A leaked top-secret document from U.S. intelligence claims that Egypt secretly planned to supply Russia with rockets, artillery rounds, and gunpowder.
The intelligence document dated February 17 claimed that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi had ordered military officials to prepare as many as 40,000 rockets for shipment to Russia, per The Washington Post.
While the document does not indicate how the U.S. gleaned the details of the Egyptian deliberations, it is suspected that some of the information in the leaked documents comes from intercepted communications.
As The Dallas Express reported, it came to the attention of the world last week that a trove of highly classified documents from the Pentagon had been leaked on Discord, a social media platform.
While the Department of Justice investigates the source of the leak, the fallout of this release of sensitive information relating to Ukraine, Russia, South Korea, Israel, and others is tremendous.
In the case of Egypt, it shines a light on the country’s awkward diplomatic position.
On the one hand, it receives $1.3 billion in military aid each year from the U.S., per CNN.
On the other hand, it has deep economic ties with Russia, which it relies on for imported grain, per The Washington Post.
Egypt has denied the allegations.
Ahmed Abu Zeid, a spokesperson for Egypt’s foreign ministry, reiterated the country’s neutrality in Russia’s war with Ukraine.
“Egypt’s position from the beginning is based on noninvolvement in this crisis and committing to maintain equal distance with both sides, while affirming Egypt’s support to the U.N. charter and international law in the U.N. General Assembly resolutions,” Zeid said, per The Washington Post.
Officials from Russia also addressed the allegations.
“It looks like another hoax, of which there are plenty now. This is how you should treat such publications,” commented Dmitry Peskov, a spokesperson for the Kremlin, per CNN.
At the same time, relations between the Egyptian Sisi government and the Biden administration have been somewhat rocky.
Responding to what the State Department called “credible reports” of human rights violations ranging from unlawful killings to arbitrary arrests, the U.S. announced last September that $130 million would be retained from Egypt’s yearly allocation, per The Washington Post.
If the allegations in the leaked document are true, it remains to be seen how this move will impact Egypt’s relations with the U.S. and Russia, as well as the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.