WP: Egypt sought to covertly supply 40,000 rockets to Russia

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi gave instructions in February to manufacture up to 40,000 rockets to be sent to Russia, The Washington Post reports, citing the recent intel leak from the Pentagon.

The newspaper cites a document dated by 17 February 2023 which outlines plans of ammo and gunpowder supplies to Russia. According to the document, the Egyptian leader instructed relevant agencies to keep the information about the rocket production and delivery secret “to avoid problems with the West”.

A spokesperson for the Egyptian Foreign Ministry told The Washington Post that Cairo’s position on the Ukraine war is “based on noninvolvement in this crisis and committing to maintain equal distance with both sides.”

An anonymous source in the US administration told the newspaper that Washington is “not aware of any execution of that plan”. The authenticity of the leaked document is also yet to be verified.

Last week, The New York Times broke the news about a leak of several packages of documents allegedly drafted by the Pentagon that emerged online. These files contained intel on the Middle East, China, as well as the Ukraine war, and particularly the long-awaited counteroffensive that Kyiv has been preparing for some time.

Kyiv denied that the information outlined in the documents had anything to do with its real plans. Senior official Mikhailo Podolyak slammed it as “photoshop and ‘virtual fake leaks’”.

Three US officials told Reuters anonymously that Russia or pro-Russian groups could be behind the leak.