Prior to joint naval exercises with South Africa and China, a Russian military frigate made a port call in Cape Town’s harbour on Monday.
The Admiral Gorshkov battleship was pictured in the harbour in a tweet from the Russian consulate in Cape Town.
The drills will take place in Richards Bay and the port city of Durban for ten days starting on February 17th.
Cape Town hosts #Russian frigate “Admiral Gorshkov”. The battleship arrived in the Mother City on its way to Durban where it will take part in joint 🇿🇦-🇨🇳-🇷🇺 naval drills scheduled for February 17-27. pic.twitter.com/RrByExX9H8
— ГК РФ в Кейптауне (@RusConsCapetown) February 13, 2023
There has been some criticism that the exercise is not appropriate, given that it coincides with the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
But the defence ministry has defended the planned drills, saying that South Africa has in the past hosted similar exercises with France, the US and countries from the Western Nato military alliance.