Russian Hypersonic Missile Ship Set to Train With China and South Africa

The Russian frigate Admiral Gorshkov will train off South Africa’s coast with the South African & Chinese navies, February 17-27 2023. (Russian Ministry of Defence).

According to Monday’s report from a Russian news agency, a Russian frigate armed with hypersonic weapons will exercise off Africa coast with South African and Chinese navies.

The South African armed forces will be engaged in combat with the Russian, Chinese and Japanese navies. “a multinational maritime exercise” The South African Department of Defence announced Thursday that South Africa’s east coast is open for business from February 17 to 27 near Durban and Richards Bay.

According to a Russian news agency TASS, the Russian frigate Admiral Gorshkov carrying Zircon hypersonic rockets will resupply at Tartus in Syria before joining the drills.

They fly at nine times faster than sound and have a range of over 620 miles. According to a Reuters Monday report, the missiles form the backbone of the hypersonic arsenal.

This exercise is geared towards strengthening “already flourishing” According to the South African statement relations between these three nations will be the second with South Africa’s countries after a drill that took place in 2019.

This exercise will be held one year after Russia invaded Ukraine. South Africa did not vote in the United Nations’ condemnation of the invasion last year.

South Africa has strong ties to Russia as a result of the Soviet Union’s support for the African National Congress (now the ruling party), while fighting to end apartheid that denied South African Blacks rights.

According to TASS, Sergey Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister, is visiting Pretoria this week to meet with Naledi Panor (South African counterpart),

The naval drills will take place “transparent” Lavrov stated Monday that they would adhere to international law. This was according to a TASS report Tuesday.

“Three sovereign countries will hold drills without violating international law, and I don’t understand with whom this can cause a mixed reaction,” According to the report, he said that.

According to a White House transcript, Karine Jean-Pierre, White House Press Secretary, stated Monday that the U.S. is concerned about Russia’s actions while Russia wage war on Ukraine.

“We’ve been consistent on this. Of course, every participating country will make their own decision,” She said. “But again, we’ve said this before, we do have concerns.”

Jean-Pierre said Washington made its views clear to Pretoria: “I don’t have any conversations to read out, but we’ve been very, very consistent.”

The drills serve a political purpose by sending the message that Russia is not as isolated as the West would like, according to James Brown, an international affairs expert at Temple University’s Japan campus.

“In involving China and South Africa, they are also a reminder of the existence of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) grouping, which Moscow hopes will develop into a counterweight to the West,” He said this in an email on Monday.

Brown stated that the drills have no military value.

“China has already made it very clear that it will not directly assist Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” He said. “South Africa certainly is not in a position to do so. If anything, sending military assets to southern Africa at this time is a distraction for Russia’s overstretched military.”