South Africa is beginning a joint military exercise with Russia and China
Key takeaways:
- Why is South Africa’s navy joining activities with Russia and China?
South Africa is creating a joint military exercise with Russia and China that opposition figures say cuts to an endorsement of Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
The US has even criticised the 10-day naval drills, which will persist over the first anniversary of the battle in Ukraine.
But South Africa’s administration says it remains neutral about the war and that it routinely hosts similar drills with other nations, including France and the US.
What are South Africa, Russia and China doing?
The naval activities, called Mosi, which means “smoke” in the Tswana language, are taking place in the Indian Ocean, off the South African shore.
The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) states 350 armed forces members will participate.
Russia has declared it will send its Admiral Gorshkov warship, which has Zircon hypersonic missiles. These fly at nine times the rate of sound and have a capacity of 1,000 km (620 miles).
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Moscow “will be trying to reveal that despite its setbacks in the conflict in Ukraine, its armed forces are still mighty”, states Denys Reva from South Africa’s Institute for Security Studies.
The SANDF has said little regarding the upcoming exercise, but a 2019 joint exercise between the three nations involved seven ships – one warship from each country, plus fuelling vessels and survey crafts.
They practised tackling shore fires and floods and recapturing vessels from pirates.
Why is this exercise controversial?
In January, a White House representative said: “The United States has concerns about any government… exercising with Russia as Russia wages a cruel war against Ukraine.”
South Africa once refrained from a UN vote criticising the invasion. It even refused to join the US and Europe in levying boycotts on Russia.
The South African regime sparked a political row when it allowed a superyacht called the Nord, related to the sanctioned Russian oligarch Alexey Mordashov, to dock in Cape Town – although it is thought the ship did not go there.
