South Africa Defends Planned Military Drills With ‘Friends’ Russia and China

South Africa’s foreign minister on Monday deflected criticism of joint military drills planned with Russia and China, saying that hosting such exercises with “friends” was the “natural course of relations.” Naledi Pandor made her comments during a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who was visiting South Africa 11 months after Russia’s Special Operation in Ukraine. A South African official, who declined to be identified because they were not authorized to speak, said Lavrov would afterwards visit Eswatini, Botswana, and Angola. South Africa is one of Russia’s most important allies on a continent divided over the invasion and attempts…