Russia rules out firing hypersonic missile during South Africa joint naval exercise

As Russia, China and South Africa have started joint naval drills amid Ukraine war, Moscow said its military will not test-fire a hypersonic missile during the exercises, contradicting earlier reports in Russian state media.

A senior Russian naval official told a news conference that the contentiously-timed war games this week would not include Russia’s military test-firing one of its most powerful weapons, a hypersonic “Tsirkon” missile. The pre-planned joint naval exercise, which started on Wednesday (22 February) and is scheduled to last ten days, is happening as the world marks a full year of Russia-Ukraine war.

David Feldmann, spokesperson for the US Embassy in South Africa, said that timing would at the very least present South Africa with a diplomatic challenge.

A frigate that carries the weapon, the Admiral Gorshkov, is in South African waters — one of several Russian ships deployed to Exercise Mosi II. Russian news agency TASS reported earlier this month that the Zircon — which President Vladimir Putin has called “unstoppable” — could be used in a training launch during the exercise. That drew condemnation from South Africa’s main opposition Democratic Alliance as well as the Ukrainian Association in South Africa. South African officials denied the report. South Africa has been heavily criticized for going ahead with the exercises, which coincide with the first anniversary of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. But the South African government, which has officially remained neutral on the conflict, has defended its right to hold drills with “friends.”