Leader of South Africa's Economic Freedom Fighters party Julius Malema says he would unapologetically supply arms to Russia if he were in a position because President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine is a war against imperialism.
In an interview with BBC's Hard Talk, the outspoken opposition leader said he would go beyond his country's friendship with Russia and supply Moscow with weapons as the country is advancing an agenda that is aligned with the EFF's policy.
He said South Africa's non-aligned status in relation to the war would not stop him from advancing an ideology that his party believes in.
"The second question is, where does South Africa stand on the war it says I'm non-aligned in relation to war but Russia remains South Africa's friend, so we cannot create confusion around that," he said.
Malema said in his bid to assist Russia, an impression should not be created to imply that he would be the one initiating an alliance with Russia in the context of the war.
"Actually I would go beyond the friendship with Russia and in the war, I would align with Russia and I would even supply the weapons to Russia because Russia is at war with imperialism and any agenda that seeks to push back imperialist agendas is well within the policies of EFF," he said.
South Africa has close diplomatic ties with Russia in spite of Western condemnations.
In March, EFF came to the defence of President Vladimir Putin following an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court.
Malema on March 24 said Putin was welcome to visit Pretoria despite an arrest warrant as no one would arrest him while on South African soil.
"Putin is welcomed here. No one is going to arrest Putin. If need be, we will go and fetch Putin from the airport to his meetings. He will address, finish all his meetings, and we will take him back to the airport," Malema said.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, in what Putin said was to "demilitarise and denazify" Ukraine and not occupy it by force.
Over a year later, the invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides and displaced millions, instigating Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II.
Ukraine has received military backing from major superpowers including the US and Germany and managed to push back the Russian incursion but Putin's forces have continued to bombard the former USSR partner with both ground and air assault.
