Russia rekindles old friendship with South Africa, its ally against apartheid

There is a very real military history between South Africa and Russia in that the Soviet Union played a significant role in the struggle against apartheid. This is something Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov will have been at paints to remind his opposite number, Naledi Pandor, at their meeting in the capital, Pretoria, on January 23, where he praised South Africa's "position of principle" over the war.