JOHANNESBURG — This was announced by the South African military on Thursday that it plans to hold joint training exercises off its coast with Russia and China next month, a move criticized by the United States, which has been trying to rally other countries to isolate Russia over the war in Ukraine .
The drills will coincide with the one-year anniversary of the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24. South Africa was among the three dozen countries abstained last year in a vote at the United Nations to condemn Russia for its claims of annexing several regions of Ukraine.
South Africa has previously held military exercises with Russia and China, as well as with the United States and NATO countries. The South African National Defense Force said the upcoming exercises, scheduled to take place near the coastal cities of Durban and Richards Bay from February 17-27, are a “means of strengthening the already thriving ties between South Africa, Russia and China.” .
The United States, which has enjoyed a decades-long strategic partnership with South Africa, immediately expressed disapproval. David Feldman, a spokesman for the United States Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa, said in a statement: “We note with concern” South Africa’s plan to proceed with joint exercises “even as Moscow continues its brutal and unlawful invasion of Ukraine.” “
He added: “We encourage South Africa to cooperate militarily with other democracies that share our mutual commitment to human rights and the rule of law.”
The naval exercise is a demonstration of South Africa’s diplomatic independence, analysts said. South Africa is part of an alliance with Brazil, Russia, India and China – known by the acronym BRICS – and this naval exercise reaffirms South Africa’s position that it will not allow the conflict between Russia and Ukraine to dictate its diplomatic relations.
“It is seen as a war taking place in Europe and as far as South Africa is concerned, it is not part of that war,” said Denys Reva, a marine researcher at the Institute for Security Studies in South Africa.
Although the European Union is South Africa’s largest trading partner, South Africa’s ruling party, the African National Congress, has strong historical ties to Russia and China because of the aid these countries provided in the fight against apartheid.
Many South Africans who led efforts to overthrow the apartheid regime studied and received military training in the Soviet Union. China also offered military training for members of the ANC, the Liberation Party that would eventually rule South Africa.
For Russia, which has faced international sanctions since the war began, the joint naval exercise is welcome evidence of a diplomatic partner’s friendship, several analysts said.
For China, although the stakes are lower, February’s exercise will be a reminder that the BRICS alliance is still a global player, said Elizabeth Sidiropoulos, director of the South African Institute of International Affairs. The BRICS may not be a military alliance like NATO, but they still present themselves as an “opposition to the West”.
While South Africa’s military is among the most powerful on the African continent, a declining defense budget has eroded its capabilities.
South Africa, China and Russia held such a naval exercise for the first time in 2019, conducting anti-piracy drills and rescue drills. Darren Olivier, director of security consultancy African Defense Review, said he and other security experts did not attach much diplomatic importance to the cooperation at the time.
Now, against the backdrop of the Russo-Ukrainian war, the exercise has “taken on a stronger ideological meaning at the political level,” Mr Olivier said. He added it would have been “more sensible and pragmatic” if South Africa had postponed the exercise.
But South Africa has also worked with the armed forces of its western partners. South Africa has been conducting since 2011 joint military exercises with the United States four times, most recently last July.
The South African Navy has previously conducted similar exercises with NATO, as well as its member nations such as France and Germany, said Mr Reva, the marine researcher.
The European Union ambassador to South Africa declined to comment on Thursday.
While many South Africans have said they support their country’s refusal to condemn Russia for the war in Ukraine, the military drills have provoked some domestic criticism.
Kobus Marais, a member of the Democratic Alliance, South Africa’s main opposition party, and a member of Parliament’s Joint Defense Committee, said the military exercise would bring little benefit to South Africa’s ailing and underfunded naval fleet. The South African government should have prioritized relations with larger trading partners like the European Union and the US, he said. Instead, it has repeatedly shown favor to Russia.
“What they are showing now is clearly a lack of neutrality,” Mr Marais said.
Last month, the Lady R, a Russian container ship sanctioned by the United States, was allowed to dock at the South African naval port outside of Cape Town. The mysterious nocturnal arrival of the ship increased speculation among South Africans, and some concerns that a sanctioned merchant vessel had been allowed to use a naval facility. It was only after the ship departed that South Africa’s Defense Minister Thandi Modise issued a statement, saying it had delivered “an old outstanding shipment of ammunition”.
More than 350 members of various branches of the South African military will take part in the exercise, dubbed Exercise MOSI.
The announcement of the exercises comes a few days before Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov plans to visit South Africa for bilateral talks with his South African counterpart Naledi Pandor.
