US ambassador says South Africa delivers weapons to Russia for war in Ukraine, Pretoria responds

This is reported by News24.

“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 publication writes. 

“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,” he added. 

Brigety told reporters that the US government has taken this issue seriously.

As for how accurate the US intelligence data is that South Africa was supplying ammunition to Russia, the ambassador said he was ready to bet his life on it.

Answering a question in the South African parliament about these allegations, President Cyril Ramaphosa said that his government was looking into the reports, according to The Guardian. 

“The matter is being looked into and in time we will be able to speak about it,” he said.

• Earlier it became known that South Africa wants to circumvent the requirement of the court in The Hague to arrest Russian President Putin on a warrant. The country is a signatory to the Rome Statute and is obliged to comply with the ICC's decisions.