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No, the Russian Embassy didn’t say South Africa’s days are numbered
The Russian Embassy didn't issue a threat to South Africa after the country called on Russia to withdraw troops.
Picture File: Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a joint press conference with German Chancellor following their meeting over Ukraine security at the Kremlin, in Moscow, on February 15, 2022. (Photo by Mikhail Klimentyev / Sputnik / AFP)
The amount of information shared on social media about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is overwhelming, and a quick glance at the platform may give one the impression the Russian Embassy threatened South Africa.
Rest assured, this is not the case.
Here’s what you may have missed.
Russia’s alleged threats
A Twitter account purporting to be the Russian Embassy in South Africa tweeted in Russian: “Your days are numbered”. (“ваши дни сочтены”)
This is not the case, as @RussiaSAEmbassy is not the official Twitter account of the Russian Embassy in South Africa.
The Russian Embassy’s real account did however post that Western media is trying to portray Russia as a war instigator.
“Western media try to portray it as if Russia STARTED a war. They are wrong. Russia is just about to FINISH the war – the one that had been conducted by Kyiv regime against Ukraine’s citizens in Donbass, with the consent of Western ‘democracies’, since 2014,” said The South African Russian Embassy.
South Africa’s response to the war
On Thursday, the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) said the South African government wants a peaceful resolution to the escalating conflict.
Dirco said “armed conflict will no doubt result in human suffering and destruction, the effects of which will not only affect Ukraine but also reverberate across the world.”
“No country is immune to the effects of this conflict.”
Warning to the world
Upon declaring war, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned against other countries intervening.
“To anyone who would consider interfering from the outside – if you do, you will face consequences greater than any you have faced in history,” he said on a television broadcast around 6am Moscow time on Thursday.
He told Ukrainian soldiers to ‘lay down their arms and go home,’ and said that Russia could not exist with a ‘constant threat emanating from the territory of Ukraine.’
‘Full-scale invasion’
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday night that 137 people had been killed, and 316 wounded, after Russia launched a full-scale invasion on the country by land, sea and air.
The invasion is on its second day and the country’s capital Kyiv is deserted.
International media reports say citizens have taken refuge underground in basements, bunkers and train stations.
Additional reporting by Narissa Subramoney
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