Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, speaks to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa during a welcome ceremony of the Russia-Africa summit in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia. (AP Photo/Sergei Chirikov, pool photo via AP)
Cape Town - The South African Ambassador to Russia has raised concerns that the United States could initiate a bill against the cooperation between Russia and African countries, which European companies are likely to support.
In an interview with Sputnik News, Ambassador Mzuvukile Maqetuka said the South African embassy in Russia faced significant challenges due to Western sanctions against that country. He noted that his Russian bank cards do not work in South Africa, nor could he use his South African cards in Russia.
“Americans have, they are working on a legislation... It is an open question,” the ambassador said responding to a question about obstacles to cooperation between Russia and South Africa.
“That legislation is going to go through, and all the chances are that once that legislation goes through, the EU is, many of the EU countries are going to support it,” he said.
Maqetuka added that many embassy workers had their accounts in Russian banks closed and transactions cannot be made as the problem was in the system that facilitated banking, “and we all know that the system presently that is used is SWIFT".
“The challenge that we are having now as we speak is the transfer of money from South Africa into our accounts in Russia,” said Maqetuka.
He added that Russian embassies and businesses were facing the same challenges, and expected the Russian central bank to resolve the sanctions-induced banking issues.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned of new targets if the West supplied long-range missiles to Ukraine.
“We will draw the appropriate conclusions and use our arms.... to strike targets we haven't hit before,” said Putin.
In his interview broadcasted late on Sunday on Rossiya-1 television, Putin did not specify exactly which targets could be hit nor the exact range of the missiles to which Moscow would react.
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