The U.S. ambassador to South Africa accused the nation of offering weapons to Russia.

JOHANNESBURG — The United States ambassador to South Africa has accused the nation’s authorities of offering weapons and ammunition to Russia throughout its invasion of Ukraine, escalating the friction between the 2 nations over Russia and the struggle.

The ambassador, Reuben E. Brigety II, advised reporters on Thursday that Washington has motive to consider {that a} Russian ship that docked close to Cape Town at a South African naval base final December, the Lady R, “uploaded weapons and ammunition.”

“We are confident that weapons were loaded onto that vessel and I will bet my life on the accuracy of that assertion,” Ambassador Brigety mentioned, in line with a clip of his change with the news media aired on the South African news channel Newzroom Afrika.

While the United States has known as on its allies to sentence and isolate Russia, South African officers have refused to take action, citing the help that the African National Congress obtained from the Soviet Union within the lengthy combat towards apartheid and saying that they had been sustaining a impartial stance on the combating in Ukraine.

American and different Western allies, nevertheless, have mentioned that South Africa has not been impartial and, in actual fact, has backed Russia. Ambassador Brigety’s allegation that Pretoria is offering ammunition to Moscow is essentially the most pointed diplomatic jab but in an more and more tense relationship. He made the feedback throughout a news convention within the capital Pretoria that was open solely to South African media retailers.

Soon after the ambassador’s remarks South Africa’s foreign money, the rand, which just lately had been falling in worth towards the U.S. greenback, continued its plunge.

Clayson Monyela, a spokesman for South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation, referred questions in regards to the allegations to the nation’s Defense Department and the workplace of the president. Spokesmen for the Defense Department and the president didn’t instantly reply to questions searching for remark.

Ambassador Brigety’s feedback got here a few week after he visited Washington with a delegation of South African officers, who held high-level talks with the Biden administration and lawmakers. The delegation, despatched by President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, sought to clean over a number of the variations between the nations.

John Steenhuisen, the chief of the Democratic Alliance, South Africa’s high opposition social gathering, known as the ambassador’s assertion “a chilling and deeply troubling confirmation that President Cyril Ramaphosa and his government are actively involved in the Russian Federation’s war on Ukraine.”

The docking of the Lady R final 12 months infuriated the American authorities. In February, a U.S. official advised The New York Times that the American authorities believed that rocket propellant and munitions could have been loaded onto the ship, which is below U.S. sanctions. South Africa’s protection minister, Thandi Modise, had mentioned the ship was delivering “an old outstanding order for ammunition.”

Last month, South African officers gave clearance for a cargo airplane focused by U.S. sanctions for ferrying Russian weapons to land at an air pressure base close to Pretoria. South Africa’s Defense Department mentioned the airplane was delivering “diplomatic mail.”

The American authorities has hinted at retaliating towards South Africa whether it is discovered to have aided Russia’s struggle effort or helped it to evade sanctions. The United States has a number of choices, together with issuing sanctions and revoking commerce privileges.

During a visit to South Africa in January, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen mentioned that the United States would reply “quickly and harshly” to governments that violate U.S. sanctions, a message that one other high Treasury Department official echoed in a gathering with South African representatives ultimately month’s World Bank and International Monetary Fund gathering.