Egypt gives Russia warm welcome
Former ally insists it is not turning its back on U.S.
In an echo of the Cold War, Egypt gave the red carpet welcome Thursday to senior Russian officials aiming to expand Moscow’s influence through military and economic co-operation with a key U.S. ally in the Middle East.
The flirtation underscores how U.S.-Egyptian relations have soured lately over the Obama administration’s criticism of the July 3 military coup.
And although Egyptian officials say the one-time Soviet client is not turning away from the United States, the military-backed government is clearly signalling it has options.
Egypt’s Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy sought to downplay speculation of a major foreign policy shift, describing the visit by Russian’s foreign and defence ministers as an “activation” of existing ties and speaking positively of co-operation between the two countries “in multiple fields.”
But the fact that the visit by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Defence Minister Sergei Shogiu came weeks after the United States froze millions of dollars in military aid is significant.
Tensions are high between Egypt and the U.S. — its chief foreign backer and benefactor since the 1970s — since the ouster of Mohammed Morsi, Egypt’s first freely elected president, and the subsequent crackdown on his Islamist supporters that has left hundreds dead and thousands arrested.
Lavrov and Shogiu were greeted with an honour guard and met at defence ministry headquarters by Egypt’s powerful defence minister and military chief, Gen. AbdelFattah el-Sissi.
El-Sissi, who led the coup that ousted Morsi, wore his trademark uniform and sunglasses and was joined by his top commanders for talks with the Russians.
Throughout the day, state television broadcast black-and-white archival footage of Soviet and Egyptian leaders meeting in the 1950s and 1960s, the two decades that saw the two nations forge a strategic friendship at the height of the Cold War and Egypt’s wars with Israel, Washington’s closest Middle East ally.
“We seek to energize a relationship that is already in existence,” Fahmy told reporters later after meeting with Lavrov.
When asked whether Russia would replace the U.S. as his country’s chief ally, Fahmy said Egypt was not looking for a “substitute for anyone” and that Russia was too significant for such a role.