President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken have “full confidence” in the U.S. ambassador to South Africa, Reuben Brigety, who is reported by news outlets there to face calls for his expulsion.

Brigety has faced an onslaught of political attacks in the months since he alleged that Pretoria transferred weapons to a Russian ship docked at a naval base in the country. An investigative panel convened by South African president Cyril Ramaphosa reportedly concluded this month that Brigety’s accusations were inaccurate, leading a top spokesperson for South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation to demand that he apologize.

Now, for the first time since the diplomatic crisis began — and since anonymous Biden officials trashed Brigety’s conduct in the press — the State Department has issued an unequivocal statement of its support for Brigety.

“Ambassador Brigety is President Biden’s personal representative in South Africa. The President and the Secretary retain full confidence in him,” a State Department spokesperson told National Review yesterday.

That’s a significant development, implicating the president directly in Brigety’s status, Michael Walsh, visiting research fellow at the Georgetown School of Foreign Service, told National Review.

“It provides a much-needed political lifeline to the ambassador. Now, if there is a move to expel him, then the State Department has signaled that move will not be against him as an individual; it will be against him as the personal representative of the President of the United States,” Walsh said.

South Africa, which is purportedly “non-aligned,” has in recent months inched closer to Russia’s orbit, sending military personnel to Moscow for defense talks and participating in joint naval exercises with the Russians and the Chinese. Brigety’s allegation in May, that South Africa transferred weapons to Moscow via a Russian warship, the Lady R, docked at a base outside of Cape Town, set off a political and diplomatic shockwave.

But State’s comments now seem to indicate that the diplomatic spat is gradually de-escalating. Since the outset of the controversy, U.S. officials have declined to offer the sort of full-throated criticism of South African conduct with regard to Russia that landed Brigety in hot water until now. U.S. and South African officials have met several times since Brigety first made the allegations.

“We appreciate President Ramaphosa’s commitment to investigating the matter of the Lady R’s presence in South Africa last year and taking our concerns seriously. We will keep our private conversations with the South African government private,” the State Department spokesperson also said

A top aide to Ramaphosa, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, has taken a similar line, telling South African reporters yesterday that Pretoria does not engage in “megaphone diplomacy,” and that it will deal with diplomatic issues through “proper channels.”

The State Department’s comments indicate that the U.S. believes that the substance of Brigety’s accusations stands, and that Washington is trying to move further discussion about them behind closed doors, Walsh said.