Inquiry to investigate claims that SA assisted Russia with weapons
The United States has welcomed an announcement by the South African government to investigate claims that it provided weapons to Russia to be used in Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. This is after government said an independent inquiry lead by a retired judge would investigate the claims made on Thursday.
The Deputy Spokesperson of the US State Department, Vedant Patel.
“We remain committed to our affirmative agenda of our bilateral relationship with South Africa. One that is focused on the priorities the two governments share, priorities of the recent high-level delegation to Washington discussed, these include issues of global peace and security, further growing the robust trade relationship, working together on a shared health agenda.”
US ambassador to South Africa Reuben Brigety said America was convinced that SA, despite the fact that it claims it takes a non-aligned stance on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, had supplied arms to Vladimir Putin’s army.
“The arming of the Russians is extremely serious, and we do not consider this issue to be resolved, and we would like SA to [start] practising its non-alignment policy,” he said.
On how accurate the US’s intelligence was that SA supplied ammunition to Russia, Brigety said he would bet his life on it.
The docking of the ship, Lady R, at the naval base in December caused speculation and concern. At the time, Brigety said he had formally written to Defence Minister Thandi Modise, who had lashed out at the US over its relationship with Africa.
