Egyptian Defense Minister Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s trip to Moscow – where he is discussing among other things a multi-billion dollar arms sale – is being read as evidence that Egypt is actively seeking to bolster its relations with Russia. Foreign policy analysts had worried for months that U.S. snubs were creating distance with Egypt, and even scholars who normally disagree had found consensus in blasting the White House for undermining seventy years of U.S. efforts aimed at boxing out Moscow in the region.
The Egyptians themselves had floated the possibility of turning to Russia for arms, after the Obama administration partially froze security assistance to Cairo’s army-backed government. Sisi used the current visit, which has among other things seen Russian President Vladimir Putin all but endorse the army official as Egypt’s next president, to declare that “Our visit offers a new start to the development of military and technological co-operation between Egypt and Russia. We hope to speed up this co-operation.”
Veteran analyst John McCreary, who writes the influential NightWatch newsletter, says there is no way is Putin going to miss this chance:
Egypt: Defense Minister Field Marshal Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi is making Russia the destination of his first trip abroad since overthrowing the Mursi regime last July. Officially, he will discuss bilateral defense relations. News services reported that he has $2 billion to spend on arms, courtesy of unidentified Gulf countries… The Russians will treat the Field Marshal well and will be eager to recover a foothold in a country that was their client and in an arms market that was exclusively theirs before 1973. US policy in Egypt has resulted in significant gains for the Russians.
The Los Angeles Times, under the headline “Amid U.S.-Egypt chill, Sisi seeks military assistance from Russia,” echoed the point:
Putin’s reception of Sisi and Fahmy seemed intended to send a message to the West that the Kremlin still has influence in the Middle East’s most populous country and appears ready to supply Sisi’s interim government with air defense systems and other military hardware that Cairo had previously looked to Washington to provide. The Russian arms deal in the works is reportedly to be financed by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which together with other Arab nations around the Persian Gulf have promised $12 billion in aid to Egypt in support of the military-orchestrated ousting of Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood, which grew powerful during his yearlong term in office.
Russia has sought to bolster bilateral ties with Egypt since the immediate aftermath of Sisi’s election. Last November, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited the country. Secretary of State John Kerry also visited Egypt in November, for a visit that Voice of America reported in advance “would only last several hours.”
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