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Putin, Sisi discuss Middle East tensions

December 11, 2017
Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) shakes hands with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah El-Sisi during a meeting in Cairo on Monday. — AFP
Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) shakes hands with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah El-Sisi during a meeting in Cairo on Monday. — AFP

CAIRO — Russian President Vladimir Putin met Egypt's President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in Cairo on Monday for talks on cooperation and tensions in the Middle East following Washington's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

Putin's visit reflects growing ties between Russia and Egypt, the second largest recipient of US military aid after Israel and a strategic US partner in the Middle East because of its control of the Suez Canal.

Putin and Sisi signed bilateral agreements, including one for Egypt's Dabaa nuclear power plant, and to discuss resumption of Russian flights to Egypt as soon as possible, a presidential spokesman told MENA state news agency.

Moscow halted civilian air traffic to Egypt in 2015 after militants bombed a Russian Metrojet flight leaving from the tourist resort of Sharm El-Sheikh, killing 224 people onboard.

Putin, making his second visit to Egypt in as many years, held talks Monday with his Egyptian counterpart on their countries' rapidly expanding ties.

Sissi has visited Russia three times since 2013.

The two countries are also in the late stages of negotiations over the construction by a Russian company of Egypt's first nuclear energy reactor.

Also, Russia last month approved a draft agreement with Egypt to allow Russian warplanes to use Egyptian military bases, a deal that would mark a significant leap in bilateral ties and evidence of Moscow's expanding military role in a turbulent Middle East. That deal, if it goes through, will likely irk the United States, until now a top Egypt military ally.

Putin flew to Cairo after a brief and previously unannounced visit to a Russian military air base in Syria. The air base has served as the main foothold for the air campaign Russia has waged since September 2015 in support of Syrian President Bashar Assad against armed groups opposed to his rule.

Sissi met Putin at Cairo's international airport and the two leaders later went straight to the presidential Ittahidyah palace in Cairo's upscale Heliopolis suburb where talks got underway.

Egypt's currently close ties with Russia harken back to the 1950s and 1960s, when Cairo became Moscow's closest Arab ally during the peak years of the Cold War.

Egypt changed allies in the 1970s under the late President Anwar Sadat, who replaced Moscow with Washington as his country's chief economic and military backer following the signing of a US-sponsored peace treaty with Israel. Egypt has since become a major recipient of US economic and military aid.

In what would have been unthinkable during the Cold War, Egypt has under Sissi been able to maintain close ties with both Russia and the United States.

Egypt, however, has not been able thus far to persuade Russia to resume its flights to Egypt, suspended since October 2015 when a suspected bomb brought down a Russian airliner over Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, killing all 224 people on board. Egypt has since spent millions of dollars to upgrade security at its airports and undergone numerous checks by Russian experts to ascertain the level of security at the facilities.

The suspension of Russian flights has dealt a devastating blow to Egypt's vital tourism industry. Britain, another major source of visitors, has since the Russian airliner's crash also suspended flights to Sharm El-Sheikh, a Red Sea resort in Sinai from which the Russian airliner took off shortly before it crashed.

"Your Excellency: When will Russian tourism return to Egypt?" read the front-page banner headline in a Cairo daily loyal to the government, in both Arabic and Russian.

There have been speculations that el-Sissi and Putin might during the visit finalize and announce a deal on the construction of the nuclear reactor on Egypt's Mediterranean coast after months of wrangling over technical and financial details.

Egypt and Russia have already initialed an agreement for a $25 billion Russian loan to finance the construction. — Agencies


December 11, 2017
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