By Le Figaro with AFP
Published 3/19/2023 at 5:49 PM, updated 3/19/2023 at 5:49 PM
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Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, January 25, 2023. MONEY SHARMA
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday March 19 received a Russian delegation led by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy for the Middle East on an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant for “war crimes”.
Mikhail Bogdanov, also Deputy Foreign Minister, was notably accompanied by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Denis Mantourov, according to a press release from the Egyptian Presidential Office.
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“Strengthening Relationships”
The two parties “reaffirmed their mutual commitment to strengthen their ties,” particularly in the economic and industrial spheres, noting in particular Dabaa, the first nuclear power plant in Egypt that Russia’s Rosatom has been building for a few months. Dependent on Russian grain or arms, most Arab capitals have remained aloof on the Ukraine conflict and are anxious to spare Moscow without alienating the United States, which has taken on Kiev’s cause.
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Egypt, the world’s largest importer of wheat — a grain mostly sourced in Russia and Ukraine — is particularly inclined to maintain its ties with Moscow. On March 9, Abdel Fattah al-Sissi and Putin spoke by phone to prepare a “bilateral intergovernmental commission in Cairo,” according to the Kremlin.
In late January, however, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken recalled in Cairo that Egypt had voted at the United Nations to “condemn the Russian invasion and reject Moscow’s attempts to illegally annex parts of Ukraine.” He welcomed “a strong demonstration” from Cairo.