Funding MK, Fighting the GNU… Russia’s Strategy for SA - Irina Filatova

The Government of National Unity (GNU) is likely to have been a “complete disappointment” for Russia. That is the opinion of SA-Russia expert Dr Irina Filatova who predicts that the Russians will now try to work with the part of the African National Congress (ANC) which is “radically inclined” towards former President Jacob Zuma. Professor Filatova believes Russia has funded Mr Zuma’s MK Party in the hope that his faction could be returned to the ANC, preferably heading it and getting rid of President Cyril Ramaphosa “because then the ANC would become the old ANC where Zuma could dictate the policy, and where Russia would have supreme influence”. Professor Filatova also explains where South Africa fits into Russian President Vladimir Putin’s latest vision for BRICS as “an independent organisation regulating international relations…based entirely on power”.