South Africa’s defiance on pressure to isolate Russia

The joint military exercises come after Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov visited South Africa for bilateral talks in January. The military games will run for 10 days in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Durban.

The war game comes on the eve of the anniversary of the special military operations against Ukraine by Russia. South Africa said nearly 400 members of its armed forces will take part in the exercises with its Russian and Chinese counterparts. The drills run under the name Operation Mosi, which when translated to English, means smoke. It is very interesting to note that Russia has sent its battleship, the Admiral Gorshkov, which is armed with Zircon hypersonic missiles with a range of a thousand kilometers.