Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has strongly condemned the docking of a Russian battleship in the city's harbour.

Replying to a tweet on the Russian government page, Hill-Lewis did not mince his words about South Africa hosting the ship.

"We are not hosting this warship, nor is it welcome in the Mother City. Cape Town will not be complicit in Russia's evil war," he said.

Hill-Lewis said that President Cyril Ramaphosa "must answer for his complicity".

Speaking to News24 on Tuesday, Hill-Lewis reiterated that the Russian warship was not welcome.

"We do not want to host it in the Mother City. Similarly, Russian soldiers who are taking part in Vladimir Putin's illegal war against Ukraine are not welcomed, and we do not want to host them in the Mother City."

Hill-Lewis added that Cape Town would not be complicit in the war against Ukraine.

"Even if the South African government is complicit at a national level and all freedom-loving people around the world should rightly be outraged at the South African government's indefensible position and immoral position in this conflict," he said.

And the controversy deepens as the government prepares to host the People's Liberation Army Navy from China and the Russian Federal Navy during a multilateral maritime exercise scheduled to take place from 17 to 27 February. 

The countries are expected to participate in the Exercise Mosi II, which will see grand demonstrations of naval capabilities.

On Monday, the Russian government's Twitter page posted a picture of the "Admiral Gorshkov" battleship's arrival in Cape Town.

The massive vessel could be seen with a backdrop of Table Mountain.

The tweet read: "The battleship arrived in the Mother City on its way to Durban where it will take part in joint [SA, Chinese and Russian] naval drills scheduled for February 17-27."

No abandoning of neutral stance

Last month, the Ministry of Defence and Military Veterans said South Africa would not abandon its neutral stance on Russia's invasion of Ukraine. 

"Contrary to the assertions by our critics, South Africa is not abandoning its neutral position on the Russian-Ukraine conflict," it said in a statement.

It added that it would "remain firm in our view that multilateralism and dialogue are keys to unlock sustainable international peace".

Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year, sparking a protracted war and sanctions by the west. While Russian forces have faced stiff resistance from Ukraine, suffering significant losses, they have annexed four regions of the country.

In October 2022, South Africa abstained from a United Nations vote on Russia's annexation of the regions. Previously, it also abstained from a vote on whether to suspend Russia from the UN's Human Rights Council.

This will be the second of such exercise involving the three naval forces. The first one was held in November 2019 in Cape Town.

This year's exercise will see more than 350 SA National Defence Force (SANDF) personnel from various arms of services and divisions participating alongside their Russian and Chinese counterparts.

Defence and Military Veterans Minister Thandi Modise said she was confident the exercise would "benefit all three participating nations".