EU signals irritation at South Africa's Russia ties

A continental powerhouse, South Africa has refused to condemn the invasion of Ukraine and this month announced it will host joint maritime drills with Russia and China in February.

In Pretoria for talks with his local counterpart, the European Union's top diplomat Josep Borrell said the planned naval exercises were "not the best thing".

All countries were free to develop their own foreign policy, he said, adding he understood "the desire" of some countries "to spare Russia for one reason or another".

"But... this coincidence between the starting of the war and these military drills for us is something that is not the best thing that we would have preferred," Borrell told a press briefing alongside South Africa's foreign minister Naledi Pandor.

The "strategic partnership" with South Africa was "moving along through a positive trajectory despite some irritants", he added.

South Africa has resisted taking sides over the war in Ukraine, that has triggered sweeping Western sanctions against Moscow and attempts to isolate it diplomatically.

Borrell said the EU "doesn't ask Africa to choose sides" but asked Pretoria to use its good relations with Moscow to convince it to stop the war.

- 'Quickly and harshly' -

Pandor defended the joint exercises as she welcomed Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Pretoria earlier this week, saying all nations conducted drills with "friends".

On Friday, she said all countries should play a role in seeking peace. "Solutions for our problems lie in multilateralism," she said.

South Africa recently assumed the chairmanship of the BRICS, a grouping that also includes Brazil, Russia, India and China to challenge US and European hegemony.

Borrell's visit came as Africa has become a renewed diplomatic battleground, with countries aggressively courted by Russia and China and the West.

US Treasury chief Janet Yellen was also in South Africa this week, on the last leg of a continental tour.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, she warned all nations should comply with western sanctions against Russia or face the consequences.

"(In case of) violation of those sanctions by local businesses or by governments, we would respond to it quickly and harshly," she said.

In December, South Africa was criticised for allowing a sanctioned Russian cargo ship to dock and unload its cargo at a Cape Town naval base.

The US embassy in Pretoria at the time told local media that those supporting the vessel risked running afoul of the sanctions regime.