South Africa’s foreign ministry summoned the US Ambassador to a meeting on Friday in response to claims made by the US Ambassador that the country had supplied Russia with weaponry and ammunition for its war in Ukraine.
In the midst of the diplomatic fallout from the US allegations, South Africa’s Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor will meet with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation (effectively the foreign ministry) said in a statement.
US Ambassador to South Africa Reuben Brigety said at a press conference Thursday that South Africa had loaded weapons and ammunition onto a sanctioned Russian vessel at the Simon’s Town Naval Base near the city of Cape Town in December last year.
The foreign ministry added in a statement on Friday that there was no record of an approved arms sale by the state to Russia related to the period/incident in question.
The issue threatens to seriously strain the relationship between the US and one of its key African partners.
South Africa’s position on the war on Ukraine has troubled the US and other Western nations ever since Africa’s most developed country abstained last year in a United Nations vote condemning Russia’s invasion.
South Africa stated it would take a neutral stance over the war and rather call for a diplomatic solution and an end to the fighting.
