Egypt secretly planned to send 40000 rockets to Russia. According to leaked U.S. intelligence documents obtained by the Washington Post, Egyptian President Abdel Fatah el-Sisi devised a plan with his closest advisors to produce and ship up to 40,000 rockets to Russia, which has run out of ammunition during the 13-month invasion of Ukraine.
The top-secret documents are part of a vast amount of classified information that has recently been leaked on various social media platforms.
As Egypt secretly planned to send 40000 rockets to Russia, John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council, declined to confirm the veracity of the documents on Monday but did inform the media that the information was not meant for general consumption.
The relationship between the United States and one of its closest allies in the Middle East and North Africa may be irreparably damaged if the documents pertaining to Egypt are accurate.
Also read: Israeli, Palestinian Officials meet in Egypt in a bid to ease tensions
Late in January, Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with el-Sisi in Cairo, where, according to the State Department, Blinken “expressed the United States’ solidarity with Egypt as it grapples with the economic impact of Russia’s brutal war in Ukraine.”
President Biden visited Egypt in November, met with President el-Sisi, and praised the Egyptian leader for his nation’s stance on the conflict.
“In the face of Russia’s war in Ukraine, Egypt has spoken up strongly at the United Nations, and that is appreciated very much as well,” Biden said at the time.
One of the documents, which is dated Feb. 17, says el-Sisi instructed his senior military officials to supply Russia with rockets, artillery rounds, and gunpowder, but to keep the plans secret in order “to avoid problems with the West,” according to the Washington Post.
The minister of state for military production, identified by the newspaper as Mohamed Salah al-Din, informed the Egyptian president that he would “order his people to work shift work if necessary” as “it was the least Egypt could do to repay Russia for unspecified help earlier.”
Uncertain about the nature of that assistance, Egypt increased its reliance on Russian wheat last year amid market disruptions brought on by Russia’s conflict in Ukraine, according to data examined by Reuters.
On Monday, a request for comment was not immediately answered by the Egyptian embassy in the United States.
