Journalists from the plane blocked by Polish authorities doubt they will have time to join the delegation of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in St. Petersburg, South African media has reported.
"South African journalists say they may not be able to join President Cyril Ramaphosa in St. Petersburg this morning," the media stressed.
"We missed the Ukrainian stage [of the tour] it seems that we will miss the Russian one as well. Eventually, we think it will be hard for us to continue the trip to Russia," the outlet quoted its reporter Ntebo Mokobo as saying.
Another South African journalist, Pieter Du Toit compared being on the plane to being in purgatory. Polish authorities reportedly confiscated the reporters' luggage.
"From the utter despair of being stuck on the charter flight, to escaping purgatory and eventually getting to Warsaw’s old city for a breather. Crazy day. St. Petersburg tomorrow?" Du Toit said on Twitter.
The Polish Border Guard claimed that the South African leader's security detail voluntarily stayed on the plane in Warsaw as it did not have permission to bring weapons into the country. No mention of the journalists was made.
The head of security for the South African president, Major General Wally Rhoode, accused the Polish government of trying to sabotage President Ramaphosa's peace mission and said that the president's life had been put "in danger."
On Friday, the delegation of African leaders visited Kiev as part of a peace mission to Russia and Ukraine. Ramaphosa described Africa's initiative as "the historic mission in a quest for peace," adding that one of the key elements is to listen to the positions of the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
On Saturday, the delegation is set to meet with the Russian leader in St. Petersburg.