According to one of the US leaked intelligence documents, President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi of Egypt in February was planning to produce 40,000 rockets to aid in Russia’s war effort in Ukraine, and hid his plan from his biggest ally, the US, the Washington Post reported Monday night.
According to the document, on February 17, El-Sisi also told his military officers he wanted to sell to Russia artillery rounds and gunpowder.
A spokesman for Egypt’s Foreign Ministry told reporters that “Egypt’s position from the beginning is based on noninvolvement in this crisis and committing to maintain equal distance with both sides, while affirming Egypt’s support to the UN charter and international law in the UN General Assembly resolutions,” adding, “We continue to urge both parties to cease hostilities and reach a political solution through negotiations.”
A source in the Biden administration admitted to the Washington Post that the US was not aware of such a plan being executed, although, according to the classified document, the CIA was aware of the plan.
The US has been providing Egypt with aid to the tune of at least one billion dollars a year––and often much more than that––every year since the signing of the Camp David Accords in 1978. And although Egypt’s ties with Russia are deeper than they were in the final years of the Soviet Empire, the US is by far Egypt’s richer uncle.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who serves on the Senate Foreign Relations and Appropriations committees, responded: “Egypt is one of our oldest allies in the Middle East. If it’s true that Sisi is covertly building rockets for Russia that could be used in Ukraine, we need to have a serious reckoning about the state of our relationship.”
The Justice Department is investigating the leaked 200 or so highly classified security documents, and the White House has cautioned reporters against publishing their sensitive contents.
Good luck.
According to the Federation of American Scientists, Egypt has a highly developed weapons production capacity, second in the Middle East only to Israel.
