A sanctioned Russian cargo ship's visit to South Africa's biggest naval facility last month and its secretive movement of cargo has put a strain on Washington and Pretoria, the administrative capital of South Africa.

South Africa's Defense Minister Thandi Modise said the U.S. is pressuring African nations over any links with Moscow.

The ship, identified as Lady R, had headed toward South Africa in November. Upon learning about the same, the U.S. Embassy had alerted the South African Government that the vessel and its owner -- the Russian shipping company MG-FLOT LLC -- were under sanctions, a senior U.S. official said, as per Wall Street Journal.

"Washington threatens Africa, not just South Africa, of having anything that is even smelling of Russia," Modise said, as quoted by the outlet.

Sanctions were imposed on Lady R and its owning company on May 8 when the company was operating under the name of Transmorflot LLC. At the time, Washington had said the company and its vessels were shipping weapons for the Russian government. Under U.S. law, Washington can sanction any entity, person, or country that enlists the services/provides services to a sanctioned vehicle.

The merchant ship entered South Africa's Simon's Town navy base with its transponders shut off, WSJ reported. The ship then allegedly freely moved cargo under the watch of armed guards. "There is no publicly available information on the source of the containers that were loaded onto the 'Lady R'," the U.S. official said.

During a media briefing on December 22, Modise could not provide a comment on why Lady R was docked at the naval base and what was loaded and unloaded from the vessel. "Whatever contents this vessel was getting were ordered long before Covid," she had said. She also called out African countries who have maintained a neutral stance on the Ukraine-Russia war, and continue to maintain their relationship with Moscow.

This wasn't the first time when South Africa had publicly pushed back in mounting pressure to isolate Russia. In August 2022, the country's Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor had said that her country won't be pushed around and that many African countries had faith in ties with the BRICS countries than the West. BRICS stands for the five leading emerging economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

"The US Secretary is here for what? Why did he not follow Pelosi to Taiwan? We are part of BRICS and we will buy Russian oil... South Africa was not part of nonsense," Pandor had reportedly said at a press conference in the presence of U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who was in Johannesburg for the South Africa-U.S. strategic dialogue.

South Africa was one of the 17 African countries to abstain from voting on a UN resolution calling on Russia to cease fire
South Africa was one of the 17 African countries to abstain from voting on a UN resolution calling on Russia to cease fire POOL via AFP / Sergei CHIRIKOV
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