Egypt, the world’s second largest recipient of US military aid, has ignored Washington’s request to close airspace to Russian military aircraft.
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According to the Wall Street Journal, in this regard, the Russians still have “loopholes” for capsizing weapons from Syria against the background of Ukraine’s preparations for a counteroffensive.
Since Turkey, Jordan and Iraq imposed restrictions in 2022, Russian aircraft flying to Syria have had to fly up to 2,000 additional miles. But Egypt eased the “difficult fate” of the Russian invaders and provided them with their own airspace for use.
Over the course of two weeks in late April and early May, at least seven Russian military flights were made to and from Syria, according to flight data. Also in April, records indicate, there were at least two An-124 cargo flights from southern Russia to Syria and then back to the Black Sea region near occupied Crimea. The An-124 is large enough to carry cars and even tanks.
In April, it was reported that Egypt, after talks with US officials in March, suspended a plan to secretly supply Russian missiles and decided to produce artillery ammunition for Ukraine.
The Washington Post wrote about this, citing previously unknown US intelligence documents.
Egypt approved the sale of 152-mm and 155-mm artillery shells to the United States for their subsequent transfer to Ukraine. It is not known whether such deliveries were made, but the publication calls it an obvious diplomatic victory for the Biden administration.
The document says that Egypt intends to use its weapons production capacity for Ukraine as leverage for obtaining advanced US military equipment, including F-35 fighter jets and Patriot air defense systems.
The first document, dated February 17, says that Egypt in late January and early February took steps to secretly supply missiles to Russia, in particular, set a price for them and planned purchases for production.
Source: Racurs
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.