The European Union is incapable of hindering Russia's trade with African countries. At the same time, the EU does not ask African countries to "choose a side" in the war in Ukraine, but only to observe the UN charter.

 The head of diplomacy of the European Union, Josep Borrell, said this in an interview with the Financial Times.

 "If they want to trade with Russia, what can I do? I can't stop them from doing it," he said.

 At the same time, according to Borrell, there is a difference between the desire to "spare Russia" and refusing to recognize the Russians' clear violation of international law in Ukraine.

 "We are not asking them and we are not asking any African country or any country in the world to choose a side. We are only asking them to side with the UN charter," he added.

 Borrell reportedly hoped that South Africa would use its ties to Russia to persuade it to end its war against Ukraine.

 We will remind that, despite the full-scale aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, South Africa twice abstained during the voting of resolutions important for Ukraine in the UN General Assembly, namely on the condemnation of the Russian invasion and against the annexation of Ukrainian regions by the Russian Federation.

 In addition, it also became known that South Africa can help the Russian Federation bypass sanctions. So, recently the mass media wrote that South Africa hid cargo from a Russian vessel under restrictions.