South Africa's position on the Ukrainian crisis May 13, 2022 Zurab Gachechiladze, Postgraduate student of MGIMO MFA of Russia

Traditionally friendly Russian-South African relations in a certain sense were put to the test after the start of the Russian special military operation. The events in Ukraine have acquired a wide international resonance and a large number of states have been drawn into a public discussion of the hostilities that have begun. South Africa, claiming to be the leader of the continent, being part of the BRICS format and being the only African member of the Group of Twenty, could not stand aside and not express its opinion on the start of the operation.

South Africa refused to condemn Russia's actions at the UN. Moreover, South Africa has submitted its own draft resolution on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine, which contains more moderate wording in contrast to the draft that France and Mexico had previously submitted. The South African version did not assign responsibility for the cessation of hostilities or the complication of the humanitarian situation to one of the parties, nor did it say anything about Russia's aggressive actions against Ukraine.

Nevertheless, it is worth noting that, despite the balanced position of the current government of South Africa, the South African media sharply criticized Russia's actions in the spirit of the Western mainstream, and the Ambassador of Ukraine to South Africa did not leave the screens of the main news channels of the country for several days, having received, in fact, unlimited access for her statements. This state of affairs is not surprising, since the media in South Africa are controlled by Western corporations and, given this fact, cannot express the true attitude of the local population. Rare reasonable comments, including the speeches of the Russian ambassador to South Africa, are simply drowned in the general mass of critical and condemning statements of Moscow's actions.

On March 10, at the initiative of the South African side, a telephone conversation took place between the presidents of Russia and South Africa, in which V. Putin, in addition to discussing topics of bilateral cooperation, informed his colleague about the reasons and objectives of the special operation and about negotiations with representatives of the Ukrainian authorities. The explanations of the Russian president had an effect and found understanding, because just a week after the call, South African President Ramaphosa, speaking to parliament, directly accused NATO of fomenting the crisis and said he would resist calls to condemn Russia's actions.

However, not all political forces in South Africa agree with the country's leadership. The desire of the South African government to remain equidistant from Russia and Ukraine and the refusal to explicitly accept one of the parties to the conflict cause criticism within the country from the main opposition party "Democratic Alliance".

If we try to explain why Russia's position is generally supported in South Africa, we can identify a number of reasons. Firstly, it is worth noting the long history of relations between the two countries. For several decades, Russia, represented by the USSR, supported a large number of liberation movements throughout the African continent, including the APK. Since coming to power in 1994, the leadership of the APK, not forgetting all that military, financial and ideological assistance, has been very careful and balanced about Russia's policies and actions, especially when they are widely criticized by Western countries. Secondly, given the examples of the invasion of Western countries in Iraq, Libya, Syria, etc., for the leadership of South Africa, double standards are obvious in the case of Ukraine. The more destructive wars carried out by European countries and the United States and caused entire humanitarian disasters in some states and regions of the world have not found and are not receiving due attention in the Western world. Thirdly, many in the ANC are close to Moscow's anti-Western rhetoric. In this regard, Russia appears to be a global alternative to the West, which is seen as a counterweight to American hegemony.

It is unlikely that the current leadership of South Africa will take a tougher stance against Russia and the special military operation, despite the fact that the country has found itself in a difficult situation due to rising prices and is under serious external pressure from the EU and the United States. Nor should we expect that Pretoria will fully take Moscow's position. Under the circumstances, it is very likely that the ANC and Ramaphosa will continue to balance forces within the country, and in the international arena will not take sides in the conflict, taking a balanced position.