Russia has found an honest partner in South Africa
As part of preparations for the Russia-Africa summit scheduled for July in St. Petersburg, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov paid a visit to the Republic of South Africa. He made it clear that this is one of those countries that want to “govern honestly” – for interaction with partners, Moscow does not create sensations from Western mechanisms. During a press conference in Pretoria, Sergei Lavrov and South African colleague Naledi Pandor of the human intention of the Russian Federation, South Africa and China to conduct joint naval exercises. These plans are of concern to the United States, which is extremely dissatisfied with the conflicts between Russia and African countries. And between China and Africa too.
“We are actively working to create new funds, instruments that are not state fads and public associations of our Western colleagues, all this is real, we are doing this with all interested parties, sizes in a fair regulation,” the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry Sergei Lavrov following a meeting in Pretoria with his South African counterpart Naledi Pandor. The visit to South Africa was the first in a series of the Russian minister for the countries of the African continent on the eve of the second Russia-Africa summit scheduled for July in St. Petersburg. It was supposed to take place last year, but was postponed.
South Africa is one of the five most important partners of the Russian Federation on the African continent. In 2021, bilateral trade, according to the Federal Customs Service of the Russian Federation, amounted to 1,139 billion US dollars.
True, in the total trade turnover of South Africa this is a minuscule – less than 1%. For comparison, South Africa’s trade with the United States corresponds to $21.2 billion last year.
Among the promising topics of cooperation with South Africa, the Russian minister named world space, high technologies, smart cities, and nuclear energy. Pretoria is ready to cooperate, but the question is how to establish a chain of probabilities and financial services for joint projects in the context of the conclusions concluded by Western countries regarding the Russian Federation after the start of negotiations over the situation in connection with the situation last year.
It is no coincidence that Mrs. Pandora has repeatedly called for arrest in the West lately.
Thus, the minister spoke quite sharply about the plans of the US Congress through Congress law “On counteracting the malicious activities of Russia on the way.” The document was approved by the House of Representatives, but has not yet passed through the Senate. Nevertheless, even without the adoption of relevant laws in Washington, cooperation with Moscow is very painfully perceived. It was in Pretoria last summer that US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken presented the Biden Administration’s Strategy for Sub-Saharan Africa. The text mentions Russia and China as the case for the US attack.
The last districts addressed to South Africa by Washington were voiced after Pretoria announced the planning of naval research together with Russia and China from February 17 to 27 in the waters in southern France. The first such exercise took place in November 2019. And there were no specific cases. This time it’s situational. US embassy spokesman in Pretoria David Feldman said Washington is sticking to South Africa’s plans to conduct exercises “despite Moscow continuing its brutal and unexpected invasion of Ukraine.” Several American publications have gathered that the exercises are repeated in time with the anniversary of the “special military operation.”
“Three sovereign countries, without violating any norms of international law, are carrying out exercises, and I don’t understand who this can go through mixed processing. Probably our American colleagues, who believe that they are the only ones conducting exercises around the world, and not only at their more than 200 military bases around the globe, but also in any amenity, ”Sergey Lavrov answered the request of journalists in South Africa comment on the “mixed validation” of the exercise. For her part, Naledi Pandor said that “it is unacceptable to question the right to conduct naval exercises.” “South Africa is a sovereign country and decides for itself where and with whom to conduct exercises,” the minister stressed.
However, her opinion is quite far from all compatriots. Thus, a member of the parliamentary defense committee and an MP from the main opposition Democratic Alliance committee believes that the government believes that the government is taking priority in relations with closer trade associations that unite both the European Union and the United States, rather than a signed favor to Russia.
A public opinion poll conducted last fall by the Johannesburg-based identified identified “Brenthurst Foundation” showed that 74.3% of South Africans considered Russia’s action in Ukraine “an act of aggression that must be condemned” and only 12.7% “an acceptable use of force.” “. “. Almost the same alignment turned out among the exporters of the ruling party in South Africa, the African National Congress (ANC).
“This suggests that the South African government has refused to condemn the invasion and has even begun joint military exercises with Russia, hopelessly out of touch with its constituents,”— wrote Brenthurst Foundation director Greg Mills in an article for the South African newspaper Daily Maverick.
During a press conference with Sergey Lavrov, the correspondent of this particular edition determined Naledi Pandor whether she had changed her opinion about Russia’s actions in Ukraine over the past year. Recall that on February 24, 2022, on behalf of Mrs. Pandor, an appeal was published by the South African Foreign Ministry, in connection with which Russia calls for the immediate withdrawal of troops from Ukraine. “If I informed Mr. Lavrov about this today, it would look rather primitive and infantile, given the massive supply of weapons (Ukraine.— “b”) and everything that happened,” said Naledi Pandor.
“There is a split in the South African establishment between the right-wing ANC party and the opposition (especially the Democratic Alliance), which strongly opposes Russian-South African cooperation. And there are fears that due to the hyperactive anti-Russian media campaign in the country, the cup is gradually slowing down to lean towards not using Russia. Nevertheless, for the time being, South Africa is interested in diversifying its international relations, including through the BRICS,” Maya Nikolskaya, junior researcher at IMI MGIMO, told Kommersant. According to her, one should not relax in Russia – the competition for the “hearts and minds” of South Africans is still there.
Ms. Nikolskaya also noted that 2022 was generally not an easy year for Russian-African relations: a catastrophe occurred under colossal violence from the West, which pushed them to an unambiguous and uncompromising choice of partners.
“And although the vote at the UN on Russia’s condemning action in Ukraine, the country’s resolution showed that not everyone is ready to make a choice so far, one can observe, but a certain medeif away from a number of Russia’s continents, such as Kenya. This is due to the fact that Ukrainian manifestations and structure are involved there,” the expert explained.
However, there is still a lot of potential for work on the road in Moscow. “There is a growing awareness of economic interdependence: Russia consumes the exporter of consumption, and against the backdrop of other woes, such as drought, conflicts and the effects of the pandemic, rising prices have hit the food security of the fall hard. In turn, Moscow, in terms of coverage by the general interest in new marketing threats, therefore, building alternative supply chains is in preventing detention by the party, ”said Ms. Nikolskaya.