US ‘would not oppose’ Egyptian-Russian Nuclear Power Deal

The US would not oppose a nuclear deal for peaceful purposes between Russia and Egypt, state department spokesperson Jen Psaki said on Tuesday, hours after the announcement of a tentative Egyptian-Russian nuclear power plant project.

“We don’t have concerns about what we know to date about this (memorandum of understanding),” Psaki said at a daily press briefing. “We support peaceful nuclear power programs as long as obligations under the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty to which Egypt is a signatory and obligations to the (International Atomic Energy Agency) are fully met,” she added.

The announcement of the nuclear power plant project to generate electricity in Egypt came on the second day of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Cairo.

Putin said that “if final decisions are reached” regarding the power plant, construction would start straight away. He said the project would include capacity building and studies.

Cairo has sought to strengthen its ties with Moscow, against the backdrop of strained ties with its long-time ally Washington since the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.

The US has on more than one occasion withheld parts of its $1.3 billion in military aid to Egypt in objection to the toppling of Morsi, a president who was democratically elected to office in June 2012.

Source: Ahram Online