The United States expressed “concern” to the Mozambican government over the fact that a Russian ship under Washington sanctions docked in a Mozambican port in January, a spokeswoman for the US embassy in Maputo told Lusa on Thursday.
“The US embassy expressed its concern to Mozambican government representatives over the anchoring of a US-sanctioned Russian cargo ship in a port in Beira, in January this year,” he said, in response to questions raised by Lusa.
“Since before Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine began, the United States and its partners have been working with governments around the world to restrict Russia’s access to anything that supports its military,” he added, without giving more details.
The theme is the voyage of the Russian freighter “Lady R”. The US ambassador to Pretoria, Reuben Brigety, said a week ago that South Africa had loaded arms and ammunition onto that ship at the Simon’s Town naval base near Cape Town, which then headed for Russia.
Following Brigety’s comments, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said an investigation had already been launched (with the help of US intelligence services) into the visit of the Russian cargo ship “Lady R” in December, adding that his office there was no evidence of any arms sales.
Meanwhile, on Friday, the US diplomat publicly reaffirmed “the strong alliance” with South Africa in the sense of “correcting any misinterpretation” of his words and the South African side referred to the fact that, in a meeting, the ambassador “admitted having He stepped out of line and apologized.”
In parallel to this episode, an analysis of records carried out by the Associated Press (AP) news agency indicated that the cargo ship “Lady R” is linked to a company that was sanctioned by the United States for having already transported weapons for the Russian government and helping in their war effort.
At the same time, the Al Jazeera television channel cited data from the multinational Refinitiv to indicate the cargo stop between January 07 and 11 in Porto da Beira, after leaving the Simon’s Town naval base and before continuing to Porto Sudão, no Red Sea.
Lusa sought reactions and additional information from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation (Minec) and the Ministry of Transport of Mozambique, but in both cases the matter was referred to the Maritime Authority of the province of Sofala, in turn without additional information on the stop of the freighter, confirmed by other port sources.
Mozambique has assumed a position of neutrality in the face of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, abstaining from voting condemning Russia at the United Nations and calling for dialogue to end the conflict, from its place as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council.
Source: TSF
