vibrations from US classified documents leak continue because, according to The Washington Post, they reveal, among other things, that its president EgyptAbdel Fattah al-Sisi allegedly hatched a plan with his top advisers to manufacture and ship up to 40,000 missiles to Russia.

One of the documents, dated February 17, contains a summary of Sisi’s alleged conversations with senior military officials asking them to send missiles, shells and gunpowder to Russia.

In fact, on February 1, the Egyptian president instructed a certain Salah al-Din to keep the production and transfer of missiles secret “to avoid problems with the West,” the newspaper reports. Washington Post. In particular, the directive states that factory workers must be informed that the missiles are being produced for use by Egypt itself.

The recipient of the directive appears to have been Mohammed Salah ad-Din, the minister in charge of the defense industry. Gunpowder for Russia will be produced at Factory 18, an old chemical plant.

In the same documents, Salah al-Din responds that he will order his men “to work in shifts if necessary, because that is the least Egypt can do to repay Russia for previous assistance.” It’s not clear what kind of help this is, although Salah al-Din reportedly says the Russians told him they were ready to “buy anything”.

Egypt’s relations with the US and Russia

The publication pointedly notes that Egypt is one of the closest allies of the US in the Middle East and receives security funding from the US, which sometimes exceeds $1 billion a year.

“Egypt and other US partners in the Middle East sought to stay out of the Western confrontation with Russia over Ukraine, seeking possible protection against America’s declining role in the region and new means to ensure their economic and military security,” it is written.

On the other hand, Moscow and Cairo have recently signed various agreements, including an agreement for Russia to build a major railway plant in Egypt. In addition, the Russian state nuclear energy company Rosatom has begun construction of Egypt’s first nuclear power plant since last year.

More importantly, however, after the hard blow of the war in Ukraine, Cairo is relying on Moscow for grain purchases as it faces shortages and general economic problems.

Reactions

In response, Ambassador Ahmed Abu Zaid, a spokesman for the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, said: “Egypt’s position from the outset is based on non-intervention in this crisis and maintaining an equal distance with the two sides, while reaffirming Egypt’s support for the UN. Charter and in international law. We continue to call on both sides to stop fighting and find a political solution through negotiations.”

The US official noted that Washington knows nothing about the implementation of such a plan: “We have not seen anything like this.”

“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, then we need to reconsider our relationship,” said Democratic Senator Chris Murphy.

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