The American ambassador to South Africa accused the country on Thursday of offering military support to Russia, despite the neutrality declared by the government in Pretoria in the war started by Moscow in Ukraine, the France Presse agency reported, cited by Agerpres.

According to Ambassador Ruben Brigeti, who spoke during a meeting with local media, the United States is confident that “weapons and ammunition were loaded” aboard the cargo ship, which anchored in early December in a port near Cape Town and then headed for Russia. .

“The armament of the Russians is extremely serious, and we do not believe that this issue has been resolved. We would like South Africa to start practicing its policy of non-alignment,” the American ambassador said.

A source present at this meeting with the press reported his statements to the France Presse agency. The US Embassy in Pretoria, when contacted by this agency, refused to confirm or deny the ambassador’s statements.

The latter, when asked by the local media about the reliability of the information received by the American special services about the loading of this vessel with weapons and ammunition intended for Russia, answered that this information is reliable.

The ship’s docking at South Africa’s largest naval base in Simons Town sparked controversy in the country before Christmas. The main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), then asked the government to explain why the Western-sanctioned Russian cargo ship was allowed to dock there, including why it was allowed to dock at a military port instead of a civilian one, and “why so much secrecy ” around this ship.

“All countries conduct military exercises with their friends”

South Africa has taken a neutral position since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Pretoria government has refused to join Western calls to condemn Moscow, and in February South Africa held joint naval exercises with Russia and China off South Africa’s Indian Ocean coast, drawing criticism from Washington.

During a visit to Pretoria in January, the head of the EU foreign policy department, Josep Borrell, also expressed his irritation with the relations between South Africa and Russia.

Also in January, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov paid an official visit to Pretoria. His South African counterpart, Naledi Pandor, said at the time, referring to the naval maneuvers that were to take place, that “all countries conduct military exercises with their friends”.

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