Heikal Reveals Egypt-Russia Arms Deal, Saudi Arabia Provided Financial Assistance
Russia and Egypt have already reached multibillion-dollar arms deal, and Saudi Arabia has provided its financial assistance to pay for the equipment, the prominent Egyptian journalist Mohamed Hassanein Heikal declared on Friday.
The arms deal, a move to offset the suspension of some US arms to Cairo, is worth more than US $ 2 billion, Heikal claimed.
During an interview with the privately-owned CBC television channel, Heikal said Russia is moving cautiously towards Middle East and Egypt, bearing in mind the former Soviet Union’s previous experience in the region during the year that followed the 1973 victory which witnessed a rapprochement between Cairo and Washington.
Following the military-backed ouster of Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi, Obama administration in early October suspended some military aid to Egypt, including US $ 260 million in cash and deliveries of F-16 fighter jets, helicopters and tanks in an effort to prod the North African country toward democracy. The US suspended some military aid to Cairo in early October and held back deliveries of Lockheed Martin F-16s, General Dynamics Abrams tanks and Boeing Harpoon anti-ship missiles.
US-Egypt Rift
The US suspended some military aid to Cairo in early October and held back deliveries of Lockheed Martin F-16s, General Dynamics Abrams tanks and Boeing Harpoon anti-ship missiles following the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi. The US government has not called the event a coup.
Egypt’s army ousted President Mohamed Morsi in July, leading to clashes between security forces and Morsi’s supporters in the Muslim Brotherhood that have left more than 1,000 people dead.
Russia last November had reportedly offered to sell Egypt MiG-29 interceptor jets, helicopters and air-defense systems worth at least $2 billion as Moscow moves to exploit the U.S. rift with the Arab world’s most populous nation and regain the regional influence it had during the Cold War.
On Nov. 11, the Russian navy’s Slava-class guided missile cruiser Varyag, the 11,490-ton flagship of the Pacific Fleet, docked in Alexandria on the Mediterranean for a six-day visit, the first Russian warship to visit Egypt since 1992. It was greeted with a 21-gun salute.
Its presence underlined the new era of military cooperation — and arms sales — that Moscow seeks with Egypt four decades after the late President Anwar Sadat booted out 20,000 Soviet military advisers in July 1972, strategically realigned Egypt with the United States and signed a historic peace treaty with Israel in March 1979.
