U.S. Ambassador: South Africa has given ammunition and weapons to Russia

The U. S. Ambassador to South Africa has accused the country of supplying Russia with weapons and ammunition for the war against Ukraine.

The U.S. Ambassador Reuben Brigety made the following statement, News24 reports.

The United States is convinced that South Africa, despite the fact that it claims to take a non-aligned stance on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has provided weapons to the armed forces of the aggressor country.

The supply of ammunition to the Russian Federation was allegedly carried out through a Russian cargo ship that docked at the naval base of the South African Republic in December 2022.

“Among the things we noted was the docking of the cargo ship in the Simon’s Town naval base between 6th to 8th December, 2022, which we are confident uploaded weapons and ammunition onto that vessel in Simon’s Town as it made its way back to Russia,” said Reuben Brigety.

The Ambassador says that the United States government takes this matter very seriously: “The arming of the Russians is extremely serious, and we do not consider this issue to be resolved, and we would like South Africa to start practising its non-alignment policy.”

The authorities of the South African Republic on Thursday voiced concerns about the statements of the U.S. Ambassador.

“While no evidence has been provided to date to support these allegations, the Government has undertaken to institute an independent enquiry to be led by a retired judge,” the statement on the South African president’s website reads.

They added that during the recent meetings, the American side promised to provide relevant intelligence data.

“It is therefore disappointing that the U.S. Ambassador has adopted a counter-productive public posture that undermines the understanding reached on the matter and the very positive and constructive engagements between the two delegations,” the statement emphasizes.

Preliminary information

As previously reported, in December of last year, South African MPs suspected the country’s authorities of selling weapons to Russia.

The Russian Lady R vessel, which according to the U.S. previously carried weapons for Russia, was spotted in a South African port. The Lady R container ship docked at the port of Simonstown near Cape Town on December 6. Three days after that, according to eyewitnesses, an unknown cargo was placed on the ship. At the same time, the work was carried out mainly at night, while armed people guarded the area around the vessel. While Lady R was at Simonstown, the ship had the Automatic Identification System (AIS), which transmitted the ship’s coordinates, disabled. On December 9, the container ship went to sea. And it was only after that when the team turned on AIS.