Putin congratulates South Africa's Ramaphosa on re-election

Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin congratulated South Africa's Cyril Ramaphosa on his re-election as president on Monday, reflecting continued good relations with Pretoria despite uncertainty over Moscow's more than two-year-old invasion of Ukraine.

"Hope was expressed for continued joint work on further strengthening of the partnership between Russia and South Africa in all its aspects," a statement said on the Kremlin website, referring to Putin's telephone call to Ramaphosa.

Ramaphosa was re-elected by parliament on Friday. But the failure of his African National Congress party to win a majority in last month's election, for the first time in 30 years, prompted the formation of a government made up - so far - of five parties.

South Africa's longstanding links with Moscow - as with a number of African states - date back to Soviet times, when Moscow was a prominent backer of liberation movements and the fight to end apartheid, spearheaded by the ANC.

South Africa found itself in a dilemma as host of a 2023 meeting of the BRICS grouping of countries, and it considered inviting Putin to attend despite a warrant from the International Criminal Court of Justice to arrest the Russian leader on allegations of deportation of Ukrainian children.

In the end, Putin chose not to attend.

Reuters