An EU point of view on Putin’s war lies and SA’s neutral stance

14 Feb 2023

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was high on the agenda during a recent political dialogue. In a recent blog, EU Commissioner Josep Borrell explains the concern over South Africa’s position.

Together with Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Naledi Pandor, I co-chaired the 15th South Africa-European Union Ministerial Political Dialogue, joined by my fellow EU commissioners Mairead McGuiness, Stella Kyriakides and Jutta Urpilainen.

Our discussions covered a wide range of issues, from political and security cooperation to trade and economic relations.

In addition to South Africa, we commissioners visited Botswana and discussed multilateral issues with both partners — above all, Russia’s war against Ukraine. And here there are significant differences between Botswana and South Africa.

Whereas Botswana voted in favour of the United Nations resolutions in March and October 2022 condemning the Russian aggression and the illegal annexation of Ukrainian territories, and has engaged with Russia asking to end this invasion, South Africa abstained during the vote.

As I expressed in my joint press conference with Pandor, we are facing today a high degree of global instability. A combination of challenges of the past and new ones creates tensions that affect all of us. We agreed that to face these threats, we have to work together more, to defend and reinvigorate the multilateral system.

I recalled that what Russia calls a “special military operation” is nothing less than a full-scale invasion of a sovereign country. Russia is killing Ukrainian civilians and destroying their homes as well as hospitals and power plants. Facts are facts: what is happening in Ukraine is a blatant violation of the UN Charter and the international rules-based order.

Despite its proclaimed non-aligned position, South Africa publicly appeared to be rather accommodating of Russia’s positions when Russian Minister Sergey Lavrov visited the country recently.

During his visit, Lavrov repeated well-known Russian lies, namely that the war supposedly is a defence against a “Russophobic and fascist Ukraine, supported by the West” and that it would serve “to save civilians and to stop direct threats to Russia’s securities at its borders”. He added the false claim that Europe and its partners are pushing for a military solution to the war, preventing diplomatic efforts.

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We ask nobody to choose sides

I recalled a few fundamental points in this regard to my South African counterparts. First, the easiest way to end this war and the suffering it causes is for President Vladimir Putin to pull out Russia’s troops and stop his attack against Ukraine. This is a simple key point that we will continue to insist on.

Europeans will always remain open to anyone who is serious about seeking a negotiated solution. Unfortunately, however, the reality is one of persistent Russian escalation accompanied by war crimes. Moreover, everyone who has tried to negotiate with Putin has come back empty-handed.

Second, Russia’s blatant disregard of international law and principles of sovereignty is as much a threat to Europe as it is to Africa and others. It is happening on European soil, but it affects the whole world.

Third, I stressed that we of course fully respect South Africa’s traditional non-alignment stance in foreign policy. But in the current circumstances, a neutral stance regarding the war against Ukraine is equivalent to legitimising an unprovoked aggression against a sovereign state.

The EU does not ask South Africa or any of our partners to simply choose sides between Russia and the West, and we understand that South Africa has historical reasons to be reluctant to criticise Russia. In this context, however, conducting naval military drills with Russia and China on the anniversary of Russia’s invasion is a matter of serious concern, to say the least.

What we are asking South Africa and all countries is to stand on the side of the principles and values of the UN charter and international law. The EU regards South Africa as an important partner to uphold and reinvigorate a rules-based international order. That is the reason I expressed the hope that South Africa will act accordingly and use its good relations with Russia and the role it plays in BRICS to convince Russia to stop this senseless war. Being strategic partners, the only one on the African continent, has to mean something.

Lavrov’s visit to South Africa is part of Russia’s wider effort to counter its international isolation and extend its influence in Africa. The continent is at the heart of a battle of narratives concerning the invasion of Ukraine.

Russia is waging massive information manipulation campaigns as to the causes and consequences of its invasion, and we see worrying developments in several countries around the Russian mercenary group Wagner, which has become, in many cases, the praetorian guard of military dictatorships.

For the EU, it will be a central task during the coming weeks to combat, more actively, Russian information manipulation in Africa and explain to our partners and their public why we need to work together against the destabilising Russian efforts in the region and around the globe. DM168

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R25.

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