The United States of America has accused South Africa of arming Russia in its ongoing war with Ukraine. The US claims to have concrete evidence supporting its accusation and has strongly criticized South Africa for what it deems “unacceptable” behavior.
Washington made the accusations through its ambassador to the Rainbow Nation, Reuben Brigety. The ambassador claimed that the arms were loaded onto Lady R, the Russian vessel that docked at the Simon’s Town naval base in December of last year.
“The arming of Russia by South Africa with the vessel that landed in Simon’s Town is fundamentally unacceptable,” said Brigety.
The US stated that it has concrete evidence to support its claim, with Brigety asserting that he would “bet his life” that South Africa has been providing arms to Russia.
“We are confident that weapons were loaded onto that vessel, and I would bet my life on the accuracy of that assertion. Given that the deviation from South Africa’s policy of nonalignment by the actions of these actions are inexplicable,” said the ambassador, who also claimed that the ruling ANC has been very hostile to the US in recent years.
In response, South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, said the accusations by the US is “being looked into and in time will be able to speak about it.”
BRICS
South Africa is one of the founding members of BRICS, a geopolitical bloc considered the foremost rival to the Western G7 bloc, which includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom (UK), US, and the European Union (EU) which is a supranational political and economic union of 27 countries in Europe.
The G7 accounts for over half of global net wealth and between 30 and 43 percent of the global gross domestic product (GDP). The bloc represents 10 percent of the world’s population and primarily relies on the US dollar and the Euro as trading currencies.
In contrast, the BRICS represents 42 percent of the global population and approximately 33 percent of the global GDP.
Recently, the BRICS has replaced the US dollar with the Chinese Yuan as its global trading currency.
The bloc has been gradually expanding its membership, with countries like Saudi Arabia expressing interest in joining. South Africa will host the 13th BRICS summit in August, and Putin is expected to attend.
