Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, President of Egypt, with Russian leader Vladimir Putin Photo: Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images Europe
According to a leaked document Pentagon, Egypt planned to produce 40,000 missiles for Russia and told officials to keep the deal secret “to avoid trouble with the West.”
The February 17 document outlines alleged talks between Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and high-ranking Egyptian military. In addition to offering to secretly supply rockets, Egypt also planned to supply artillery shells and gunpowder to Russia.
The proposed deal to supply Russia with much-needed weapons from stockpiles depleted by the invasion of Ukraine is potentially as follows. The document says the factory workers needed to be told that the ammunition was for the Egyptian military.
Egypt is the largest beneficiary of US military aid worldwide after Israel, and for decades received security assistance annually in over $1 billion. Egypt's supply of arms to Russia would increase the likelihood that US security assistance would be used to support its illegal incursion into Ukraine and could jeopardize that assistance.
A document outlining the proposed deal was among classified US intelligence files leaked online in February via Discord, a popular chat app among online gamers first reported by The Washington Post.
In response to the infamous leak, Ahmed Abu Zeid, a spokesman for the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, said: «Egypt's position from the outset is based on non-intervention in this crisis and a commitment to maintain an equal distance from both sides, while reaffirming Egypt's support for the UN charter and international rights at the UN. General Assembly resolutions.»
He continued: «We continue to call on both sides to stop hostilities and reach a political solution through negotiations.»
A US government official told The Post that Washington has not seen any evidence that the alleged arms transfer took place. . Speaking anonymously to address this sensitive issue, the official said: “We are not aware of any execution of this plan. We didn't see that.»
The US is reviewing relations with Egypt
Some US lawmakers have warned that Egypt's arms sales to Russia could be grounds for reassessing Cairo's relationship with Washington.
Chris Murphy, a Democratic senator serving on the Senate Foreign Relations and Appropriations Committees, said: “Egypt is one of our oldest allies in the Middle East. If it is true that Sisi is secretly building missiles for Russia that could be used in Ukraine, we need to seriously think about the state of our relationship.”
The leaked document does not identify the source of information about Egypt’s offer to supply Russia, but it could be based on intercepted messages.
The document describes how Mr. Sisi ordered the missile supply to be kept secret to avoid angering the West and to tell a man named Salah al-Din (probably referring to Mohamed Salah al-Din, Minister of State for Defense Production) to tell the factory workers, that the weapons are intended for the Egyptian army.
The minister replied that he would “order his people to work in shifts if necessary, because this is the least that Egypt can do to pay Russia for previously unspecified aid.”
Russia recently signed supply contracts with Egypt for Russian grain to avoid shortages caused by the disruption of access to Ukrainian wheat. Facing an economic deficit at home, Cairo is keen to avoid bread riots fueled by shortages of subsidized staple foods.
Russia also started building Egypt's first nuclear power plant last year and signed an agreement. build a large railway workshop in Egypt earlier this year.
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