The American newspaper The Wall Street Journal reports, citing its sources, that the US government is trying to convince Egypt to start supplying weapons to Ukraine, but Cairo is in no hurry to fulfill this request.
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Earlier, the Egyptian authorities, under pressure from Washington, abandoned the idea of helping Russia with weapons, the publication says.
According to WSJ sources, several US officials asked Egypt to supply arms to Kiev, including US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who met with President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi in March.
In particular, the American authorities offered the Egyptian authorities to supply Ukraine with artillery shells, anti-tank missiles, air defense systems and firearms.
The supply of shells is especially important, since Ukraine uses a large amount of ammunition during the counteroffensive, and the US authorities are doing everything possible so that the Armed Forces of Ukraine do not run out of them, writes WSJ.
During meetings with US officials, Egypt did not unequivocally refuse these requests, but representatives of the Egyptian authorities in private conversations say that Cairo has no plans to start deliveries, the authors say.
At the same time, one of the WSJ interlocutors in the US State Department said that Egypt remains a partner of the US in their attempts to establish a just and strong peace in Ukraine.
This issue is not an easy one, so we are continuing productive discussions with our Egyptian partners about the mutual benefit of ending this war started by Russia,” the official said.
WSJ journalists remind that Egypt tried to remain neutral about the war in Ukraine and maintain friendly relations with Russia. President al-Sisi is still friends with Vladimir Putin and recently took part in the Russia-Africa summit held this summer in St. Petersburg. Egypt also buys most of its grain from Russia.
After the Egyptian authorities refused to supply weapons to Ukraine, some members of the US Congress proposed to freeze the allocation of 230 million US aid to Cairo, the authors of the publication report.
The United States annually sends 1.3 billion dollars. to support the Egyptian army, but a small portion of this amount is contingent on respect for human rights.
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.