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Egypt planned to produce 40,000 rockets for Russia and told officials to keep the deal secret “to avoid problems with the West”, according to a leaked Pentagon document.
The document, dated February 17, outlined purported discussions between Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, Egypt’s president, and senior Egyptian military officials. As well as offering to covertly supply rockets, Egypt also planned to supply Russia with artillery rounds and gunpowder.
The proposed arrangement to supply Russia with much-needed weaponry of stocks depleted by the invasion of Ukraine is potentially so explosive diplomatically that factory workers were to be told the munitions were intended for Egypt’s own military, the document said.
Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, Egypt's president, with Russian leader Vladimir Putin during the Russia-Africa Summit back in 2019. Photo / Getty Images
Egypt is the largest beneficiary of American military aid worldwide after Israel, and has for decades received over US$1 billion annually of security assistance. Egypt supplying weapons to Russia would raise the prospect of American security assistance being used in aid of its illegal invasion of Ukraine and could jeopardise that aid.
The document outlining the proposed deal was among classified US intelligence files leaked online in February on Discord, a chat app popular among online gamers, and was first reported by The Washington Post.
In response to the embarrassing leak, Ahmed Abu Zeid, the spokesman for Egypt’s foreign ministry Sameh Shoukry, said: “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.”
He continued: “We continue to urge both parties to cease hostilities and reach a political solution through negotiations.”
“Egypt’s position from the beginning is based on noninvolvement in this crisis and committing to maintain equal distance with both sides", says a spokesman for Egypt’s foreign ministry Sameh Shoukry in response to the leak. Photo / AP
A US government official told The Post that Washington had seen no evidence that the proposed weapon transfer had taken place. Speaking anonymously to address the sensitive issue, the official said: “We are not aware of any execution of that plan. We have not seen that happen.”
Some US lawmakers warned that Egypt supplying weapons to Russia could be grounds to re-evaluate Cairo’s relationship to Washington.
Chris Murphy, a Democrat senator who serves on the Senate’s foreign relations and appropriations committees, said: “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 leaked document did not identify the source of the information on Egypt’s offer to supply Russia but it may have been based on intercepted communications.
Three Russian rockets launched against Ukraine from Russia's Belgorod region were seen at dawn in Kharkiv, Ukraine, last month. Photo / AP
The document described Sisi ordering the supply of rockets to be kept secret to avoid angering the West and telling a man named as Salah al-Din – likely referring to Mohamed Salah el-Din, the minister of state for military production – to tell factory workers that the weapons were for the Egyptian military.
The minister responded that he would “order his people to work shift work if necessary because it was the least Egypt could do to repay Russia for unspecified help earlier”.
Russia recently signed deals with Egypt for the supply of Russian grain to avoid shortages brought about by disrupted access to Ukrainian wheat. Facing an economic shortage at home, Cairo is keen to avoid bread riots brought about by shortages of heavily subsidised staples.
Russia also started work last year on Egypt’s first nuclear power plant and signed a deal earlier this year to build a large railway workshop in Egypt.
Tobias Ellwood, chair of the UK’s defence select committee, has called for Egypt to immediately clarify its position. He said that if reports are true the UK will demand a review of its relationship with Cairo.
He said it also prompts questions about whether other nations who have been silent in condemning Russian aggression are actually quietly supporting Putin’s military adventurism.
