Siyabonga Mkhwanazi
Top ANC leaders are on a visit to Russia to strengthen bilateral relations with the governing party in that country, the United Russia Party.
ANC deputy head of the sub-committee on international relations Obed Bapela and fellow NEC member Alvin Botes will lead the delegation of the ANC to Moscow.
Botes is also the deputy minister of international relations and cooperation.
The visit started on Thursday and was due to end on Sunday.
The NEC members travelled to Russia a few days after Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Naledi Pandor reaffirmed ties between the government and Russia.
Pandor had said these relations cannot be dictated by outside forces.
The ANC said its relationship with the United Russia Party, led by former president Dmitry Medvedev, was important for geopolitical and strategic reasons.
Medvedev is currently the deputy chairperson of the Security Council.
President Vladimir Putin led the United Russia Party a few years ago and now Medvedev is in charge.
The ANC said it was invited to Moscow by the United Russia Party and Bapela was leading the NEC team.
“In the delegation is also NEC member and deputy minister of international relations and cooperation, comrade Alvin Botes. It is anticipated that the delegation will also participate in the inaugural International Organising Committee of the Inter-Party Forum, which includes progressive as well as fraternal movements and political parties from Africa, Asia and Latin America,” said the ANC.
It said part of the discussions would include the current global political situation.
The relations between the West and Russia are tense after the invasion of Ukraine in February last year.
The International Criminal Court has further heightened tensions after it issued an arrest warrant for Putin.
South Africa has come under pressure from some of the opposition parties to arrest Putin if he comes to the country for the BRICS summit in August.
But the government was seeking legal opinion on how to handle the matter before the summit in Durban.
South Africa recently conducted military exercises with Russia and China on the coastal cities of Durban and Richards Bay.
Last year the country had similar joint military exercises with the United States.
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