The ruling ANC party in South Africa announced on Saturday that it had sent top representatives to Russia to speak with President Vladimir Putin’s party on “recalibrating the world order.”
The largest political party in Russia and a longtime ally and friend of the ANC, the United Russia Party, extended the invitation, according to the South African party.
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Discussions on the recalibrating of the global order to undo the effects of neo-colonialism and the predominately unipolar world will be included in the interactions, according to the statement.
Since years, Moscow has sought to deepen its political and economic connections with African nations, and on Friday, Putin approved a new foreign policy focused at limiting Western influence.
For its part, South Africa has refrained from denouncing the invasion of Ukraine that has largely isolated Russia on the international scene, claiming that it prefers to remain neutral and negotiate a peaceful resolution to the conflict.
The ANC group arrived on Thursday and is scheduled to remain through Sunday. Obed Bapela, the ANC’s chairman of the international relations commission, is leading the delegation.South Africa is due in August to host a BRICS summit, the bloc grouping the emerging economic heavyweights Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
In February, South Africa hosted a controversial joint military exercise with Russia and China, while Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov paid an official visit to Pretoria in January.
South Africa’s ties with Russia date back decades, when the Kremlin backed the ANC in its fight against apartheid.
