Putin scheduled to meet with Egyptian leaders

World Today

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin is scheduled for a two-day visit to Egypt on Monday. His plans are set to meet with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and other top Egyptian officials .
CCTV’s Yasser Hakim reported this story from Cairo.

Russia and Egypt were close allies during the Cold War, however, the relations have changed over the years.

During Gamal Abdel Nasser’s socialism era in the 1950s and 60s there was cooperation in all fields and Russia had influence on Egyptian politics.

“Russia helped Egypt build the high dam with a two percent interest loan while the World Bank wanted 19 percent interests. We even paid the loan in fruits and oranges,” Sherif Gad, Chairman of Russian and Political Cultural Center said. “Russia also built all the heavy industry that drove the economy such as the steel industry, aluminium, textiles industries and much more.”

From 1970s onwards, the two former presidents Anwar Sadat and Hosni Mubarak moved away from Russia in favor of the U.S. and Europe.

Their successors took a different path. Unhappy with western policies in the middle east, the two elected presidents recouped ties with Russia after the 2011 Arab uprising.

They both visited President Putin and he has shown exceptional support to the 2013 uprising that ousted Mohamed Morsi and brought Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to power.

“He is a good man who stood beside the Egyptians in the revolution and was there with the political and economic support when needed,” Citizen Ismael Abdo said.

Monday’s scheduled visit holds special importance for Egypt: An arms deal is expected to be signed to aid the Egyptian army in its crackdown on militants.

Experts have said Egyptian-Russian cooperation would be good for the region.

“Both countries have a similar stand concerning the Syrian crisis, they condemn the violence in syria. Both are also similar in that they recognize a Palestinian independent state concerning the Palestinian Israeli file,” Gad said. “Egypt knows that with Russia can have the backing of a superpower as it retains its leading role to bring stability to the region”

Putin has not visited Egypt for 10 years. Cairo officials say they hope this could mark the beginning of a relationship similar to the one in the 1960s.