South Africa conducts war exercises with Russian and Chinese ships

África do Sul realiza exercícios de guerra com navios russos e chineses

South Africa will hold naval exercises off its east coast with Russian and Chinese warships between February 17 and 26. Operation Mosi (smoke) could raise tensions between the country and its biggest trading partners.

South Africa's reluctance to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine and its decision to allow sanctioned Russian ships to dock in its ports has already increased tensions with the US, UK and EU who are supporting Ukraine in the conflict.

In 2019, the three countries will carry out a naval operation along the lines of a war. This second one comes about a year after Russia invaded Ukraine.

South Africa has close ties with Russia due to its historical support for the country's liberation struggle and its joint membership of the BRICS group of nations.

The USA, Germany, Japan and the UK are South Africa's main trading partners, while Russia is not in the top 15.

The country's largest opposition party questioned the wisdom of continuing with the exercises.

"This gives the impression of not being neutral, but being biased towards one side. It is clear that it could alienate us from other important trading partners, the West," said Kobus Marais, the Democratic Alliance's shadow defense minister. "This is in Russia's best interests," said Marais, calling it "another bad judgment, a disgrace." Bloomberg

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