Egypt is considered an important partner of the USA in the Middle East.
According to a report, the leaked secret documents now prove plans that US President Biden should not like.
Cairo/Frankfurt - It is difficult to decide whether to call the case "secret document leaks", "US leaks" or "Ukraine leaks".
Because so far it is not publicly known who distributed the military papers - and whether they are entirely genuine or subsequently manipulated.
The Pentagon described the leak on Monday (April 10) as a “very serious” national security risk.
As the
Washington Post
now reports, the leak shows that Egypt probably also wanted to supply Russia with weapons – for the Ukraine war.
Parts of the explosive documents and photographs have been circulating on the Internet for weeks.
According to the
New York Times -
which reported first - the documents contained, among other things, information on US and NATO plans to support a Ukrainian military offensive in the spring against the attack by Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin.
According to Leak, al-Sisi wanted to deliver weapons to Putin - but no "problems" with the West
In February, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi planned to produce 40,000 missiles for Russia.
He instructed officials to keep this and its shipment secret "to avoid problems with the West," writes the
Washington Post
, citing one of the February 17 leaked documents.
However, the paper does not explicitly state why Moscow is interested in acquiring the missiles.
The US newspaper confronted the Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman with its findings: Ahmed Abu Zeid, however, stressed that "Egypt's position from the outset has been based on not engaging in this crisis," the report says.
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Archive image: Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (left) and Vladimir Putin at a press conference in Sochi in 2019
© Alexei Druzhinin/Imago
Newspaper sees "explosive move" by Egypt in "Ukraine Leaks" information
The Washington Post
is certain that
supplying Moscow with weapons for the invasion of Ukraine would be an "explosive move" for Cairo
have been giving him military aid for decades.
Tanks, drones, anti-aircraft defenses: weapons for Ukraine
Tanks, drones, anti-aircraft defenses: weapons for Ukraine
'Outrageous': US Reactions to Egypt's Alleged Arms Shipments to Russia
The American political advisor Sarah Margon was outraged.
"A willful sale to the Russian government, which is committing clear acts of war and other atrocities, is nothing short of unheard of — especially for a supposedly close US ally," she told the Washington
Post
.
Margon is a former candidate in the administration of US President Joe Biden for the top human rights post at the State Department.
A US government official who wished to remain anonymous was more cautious about Egypt's possible involvement.
"We are not aware of any execution of this plan," he told the
Washington Post
, adding, "We haven't seen that happen."
South Korea calls leaked secret documents “senseless lies”
Some of the leaked documents are also said to suggest that the US was spying on its close allies like South Korea and Israel.
However, South Korea has now dismissed rumors about security gaps that could make eavesdropping possible as "senseless lies".
After a phone conversation between the two countries' defense ministers, both sides came to the conclusion "that a significant number of the documents in question are fabricated," South Korea's presidential office said on Tuesday (April 11).
(frs with material from the AFP)
List of rubrics: © Alexei Druzhinin/Imago
