South Africa was due to launch a joint naval exercise with Russia and China on Friday, a move it is calling routine but which has fuelled domestic criticism and fears the drills will endanger important relations with Western partners.
South Africa says it maintains a neutral stance on the Ukraine conflict and abstained from voting on a U.N. resolution last year condemning Russia.
But six South Africa-based diplomats - all from NATO or EU countries - told Reuters they condemned the exercise.Russia's own actions have stoked the controversy.called the Zircon. "Cape Town will not be complicit in Russia's evil war," Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis wrote on Twitter, declaring the vessel unwelcome in the city.South Africa's governing African National Congress has long-standing ties to Moscow, which supported its struggle against a racist apartheid regime that many Western states considered a Cold War ally.
South Africa, for example, greatly values its place within the BRICS bloc alongside Russia, China, India and Brazil, and supports Beijing's plans to expand membership and increase its clout."Some companies have asked us if it is still safe to engage with South Africa for business, because they fear possible consequences," one European ambassador told Reuters.
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