Johannesburg, May 11 (PTI): South African President Cyril Ramaphosa will institute an independent inquiry into allegations by the US Ambassador that the country supplied weapons to Russia, it was announced on Thursday.

“The Presidency has noted with concern remarks attributed to the United States Ambassador to South Africa, Reuben E Brigety, alleging the supply by South Africa of weapons to Russia,” a statement from Ramaphosa’s office said on Thursday.

This comes after Brigety earlier claimed at a media conference in Pretoria that a Russian ship had collected arms from South Africa in December last year.

“Among the things we noted was the docking of the cargo ship in the Simon’s Town Naval Base between December 6 and 8, 2022, which, we are confident, uploaded weapons and ammunition onto that vessel in Simon’s Town as it made its way back to Russia,” Brigety was reported as saying during the conference.

The president's office, however, denied the allegations, saying that the claim would be investigated independently.

“It is public knowledge that a Russian vessel known as Lady R docked in South Africa. Allegations have since been made about the purpose of the voyage. While no evidence has been provided to date to support these allegations, the government has undertaken to institute an independent enquiry to be led by a retired judge.

The president's office described Brigety’s remarks as “disappointing”.

“The ambassador’s remarks undermine the spirit of cooperation and partnership that characterised the recent engagements between US government officials and a South African official delegation led by National Security Special Advisor to the President, Dr Sydney Mufumadi.

“In recent engagements between the South African delegation and US officials, the Lady R matter was discussed and there was an agreement that an investigation will be allowed to run its course, and that the US intelligence services will provide whatever evidence in their possession," the statement said.

South Africa, which was among the first of a few countries to abstain from voting against a UN resolution decrying Russia’s attack on Ukraine, has consistently refused to take sides in the war.

This had led to increasingly strained relations between the country and the US, which sees South Africa as a key partner in the African continent.

South Africa hosted Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for talks in January, and a few weeks later Russian warships joined the local and Chinese navies in drills which it said at the time would "strengthen the already flourishing relations between South Africa, Russia and China".

South Africa said the drill had been planned a year before Russia invaded Ukraine.

South Africa is also under pressure to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is expected to join other leaders in the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) bloc for its Summit in Johannesburg in August.

The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant against Putin for alleged war crimes involving the abduction of children from Ukraine. PTI FH PY PY PY

(This story is published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. No editing has been done in the headline or the body by ABP Live.)