Pretoria Lashes Out at U.S. Allegations that a Russian Ship Picked up Weapons from a South African Port

The U.S. ambassador to South Africa has accused the country of secretly transferring weapons to Russia, an allegation that drew an angry rebuke from Pretoria.

“It is widely known that the Russian ship Lady R stopped in South Africa. Since then, various assumptions have been made about the purpose of this voyage. At the same time, no evidence has yet been presented to support such assumptions (about loading weapons on board the ship - IF). Our government is nevertheless conducting an independent investigation led by a former judge," President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office said in a statement.

U.S. Ambassador to South Africa Reuben Brigety told a media briefing on May 11 that the U.S. believed weapons and ammunition had been loaded on to a Russian freighter that docked at a Cape Town naval base in December.

“We are confident that weapons were loaded on to that vessel and I would bet my life on the accuracy of that assertion….. The arming of Russia by South Africa… is fundamentally unacceptable,” Brigety said.

South Africa has refused to condemn the invasion of Ukraine, saying it wants to be neutral.

But critics cite a number of recent incidents as evidence of a tilt towards the Kremlin. It held a joint military exercise with Russia and China in February, and last month a sanctioned Russian military cargo plane landed at an air force base in the middle of the night to deliver what defense authorities described as “diplomatic mail”.

The South African statement added, "The ambassador's remarks undermine the spirit of cooperation and partnership that has characterized recent interactions between U.S. and South African government officials.”

The office explained that there was an agreement between the United States and South Africa that Washington would allow the South African partners to conduct an investigation into Lady R in a calm atmosphere. “There was also an agreement that the U.S. intelligence services would pass on any information they have,” the report says.

However, US State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said on Thursday that the United States is concerned about the story with Lady R and is in dialogue with South Africa on this issue.

"We have previously stated that the United States is deeply concerned about the entry of a Russian cargo vessel under U.S. sanctions into a South African seaport last December. As good partners, we expressed this concern directly to several South African officials,” Patel said during a press briefing.