Russia rekindles friendship with South Africa, its ally vs apartheid

The recent announcement that the South African, Russian and Chinese navies will conduct joint exercises off the east coast of South Africa between February 17 and 27, has alarmed the United States. Washington has condemned the decision as the exercises would appear to compromise South African neutrality in the diplomatic controversies surrounding the war in Ukraine.

The exercises will be in the Indian Ocean between Durban and Richards Bay on the country’s east coast. They will not amount to much in strict naval terms. The South African navy consists of three German-built submarines, about 15 years old, and four German-built ocean-going frigates of the same vintage.

The rest of the navy is made up of five coastal patrol vessels. One, by far the heaviest at 1,031 tonnes, was built locally in 2022. Three are from about 25 years ago and displace only 37 tonnes each. And the last is from the apartheid era. There are also a handful of harbour patrol vessels.