The commander of the ground forces of the South African army is on an official visit to Moscow, Russian media reported today, and the visit comes after American accusations that Pretoria was sending weapons to Russia.
As announced by the Ministry of Defense of Russia, Lieutenant General Lawrence Mbata and his delegation discussed with their Russian colleagues "issues of military cooperation" with the aim of "increasing the combat readiness of the armed forces of the two countries".
"During the meeting of the military leaders, agreements were reached on strengthening the cooperation of the ground forces in various areas," the ministry added, Russian agencies TASS and Interfax reported.
During the visit, the delegation will visit military educational institutions of the Russian ground forces and enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex, the announcement stated.
The visit comes amid tensions between South Africa and the US, which accuse Pretoria of supplying weapons to Russia, a country that has been waging a military offensive in Ukraine for more than a year.
Following the allegations, which were made by the US ambassador in Pretoria, the South African government promised to investigate the alleged shipments.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said today that his country would not be drawn into a "competition of world powers" over Ukraine, adding that it had been under "extremely great pressure" to choose a side.
"We do not accept that our non-aligned position favors Russia over other countries. We also do not accept that it endangers our relations with other countries," he said.
Last Sunday, Ramaphosa had a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the two leaders expressed their desire to "strengthen" their cooperation, the Kremlin announced at the time.
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