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Friday, November 21, 2014
Russia's Putin to visit Egypt early next year

Russia's Putin to visit Egypt early next year
The visit is planned to take place early next year according to Russian
media
Lobna Monieb, Friday 21 Nov 2014
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/116049/Egypt/Politics-/Russias-Putin-to-visit-Egypt-early-next-year.aspx

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi and his Russian counterpart
Vladimir Putin attend a welcoming ceremony onboard guided missile cruiser
Moskva at the Black Sea port of Sochi, August 12, 2014. (Photo: Reuters)


Preparations for a visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin to Egypt in
the new year are currently ongoing, according to reports by Russian media.

Russia Today said that Russian deputy foreign minister, Michael Bogdanov,
had announced Thursday that the visit would take place early next year.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has visited Moscow twice. On his
second trip to Moscow in August he invited his Russian counterpart to visit
Egypt.

Sergey Vershinin, the Russian foreign minister's special envoy, described
Putin's planned visit to Egypt in statements to the Middle East News Agency
(MENA) earlier this month as "historic".

Vershinin gave the statements after a meeting with Egyptian foreign minister
Sameh Shoukri, where the former confirmed his country's commitment to
supporting Egypt in various fields.

Egypt had strong ties with Russia in the 1950s and 1960s, and the Soviet
Union was the main supplier of arms to Egypt until the early 1970s.
Relations soured after Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty bringing in
some $1.3 billion in annual US military aid to Cairo in 1979.

However, US froze its aid to Egypt in October 2013 stating democracy
concerns following president Mohamed Morsi's ouster.

There have been negotiations regarding the issue over the past months. In
April, the US announced it would lift the hold on the helicopters' delivery
to Egypt and in October Egyptian and US officials announced that the
shipment was loaded and expected to arrive in November.

Meanwhile, Egypt's President Abd El-Fattah El-Sisi visited Moscow twice over
the past year amid the strained US relations.

He first went as a defence minister and army chief in February where he
reportedly negotiated an arms deal with Putin.

In August, El-Sisi visited Moscow again as president and both leaders
announced their plans for enhancing bilateral cooperation in the fields of
trade, economy, investment and energy.

According to Mustafa El-Labbad, director of the Al-Sharq Center for Regional
and Strategic Studies, Egyptian-Russian relations are improving.

"Russia is looking for new allies in the region, given the situation in
Syria and the imminent solution to Iran's nuclear problem," he told Ahram
Online.

He described the improving relations between the two countries as a "mutual
interest".

During El-Sisi's two-day visit to Moscow in August, the two heads of state
discussed the situation in the Arab world, particularly Syria, Libya and
Iraq. They also held extensive talks about Russia's military support for
Egypt, according to press statements by the Russian ambassador to Cairo
Serge V. Kirpichenko.

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