Leaks show Egypt sought to covertly ship rockets to Russia: report

Egypt planned to secretly provide rockets, artillery and gunpowder to Russia to support the country’s forces in Ukraine, according to a Washington Post report on the latest batch of leaked Pentagon documents.

The Post obtained documents from March and February uploaded to the chat forum site Discord that indicated Cairo sought to provide the munitions to support Russia in its grinding war on Ukraine, while keeping the arms deal secret from western allies.

One document says Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi ordered 40,000 rockets to be produced and covertly shipped to Russia.

El-Sisi allegedly told his subordinates to keep the distribution of the rockets secret “in order to avoid problems with the West,” according to The Post. The documents also say the Egyptian leader planned to provide artillery and gunpowder.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. had not seen evidence that Egypt followed through on those plans.

“I don’t want to speak to the validity of these leaked documents. But what I will tell you is we’ve seen no indication that Egypt is providing lethal weaponry capabilities to Russia,” he said.

Kirby added that Egypt remained a significant security partner, declining to comment on diplomatic conversations between the countries.  

A senior Egyptian official told state-run channel Al Qahera News TV on Tuesday that the plan to provide rockets to Russia was false, according to several Egyptian news outlets.

The Pentagon is currently reviewing the leaked documents for accuracy, at least one of which was altered to overestimate Ukrainian casualties and reduce the number of Russians killed in combat.

South Korea has also disputed leaked documents that indicated the U.S. was spying on Seoul.

The Justice Department is overseeing a criminal investigation of the leak. The documents, of which there are at least 100, started appearing online possibly as early as January on Discord and other chat forum sites.

Both Russia and Ukraine are running low on munitions after more than a year of brutal fighting across the country.

Russia has looked to other countries facing western sanctions to bolster its war effort, with Iran providing explosive drones and North Korea reportedly has provided artillery shells to private Russian mercenary outfit Wagner Group.

The U.S. has warned that China may also provide lethal aid to Russia after supplying Moscow with nonlethal assistance.

Egypt is a key ally for the the U.S. and NATO in the Middle East and receives around $1 billion in economic assistance each year.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to Cairo in January, where he met with El-Sisi and discussed regional peace and security.

Egypt also maintains close ties with Russia and is a major buyer of Russian grain. Cairo has attempted to stay neutral during the war in Ukraine.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry met with his counterpart in Russia shortly after the Blinken visit to Cairo.

According to The Post, one document says El-Sisi wanted to assist Russia with its war in Ukraine to “repay” Moscow for helping his country, though it wasn’t clear what type of assistance Russia had provided.