Russia and Egypt Reportedly Strike $3.5 Billion Arms Deal

A top Russian military official said Wednesday that the country had made a sizable preliminary arms deal with Egypt to sell $3.5 billion worth of weapons to the North African nation.

Alexander Fomin, head of Russia’s Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, made this bit of news known at an arms trade exhibition in South Africa but declined to describe the deal further, as Reuters reported that day:

Russia, the world’s second-largest arms exporter, has sought to boost its military ties with Egypt after relations between Cairo and its long-standing ally Washington soured, causing some defense cooperation between the two countries to be frozen.
The head of Rosoboronexport, a state body that deals with arms exports, said the value of the agency’s order book was high in spite of Western sanctions against Moscow over Ukraine.

Egypt and Russia have evidently found a mutually beneficial workaround to offset shifts in their respective relationships with the U.S. government.

Original Article
Source: truthdig.com/
Author: Donald Kaufman