Egypt denies leak about supplying Russia with 40,000 rockets

A senior Egyptian official has denied supplying Russia with 40,000 rockets for use in its war against Ukraine.

The unnamed official spoke to the Al-Qahera News website on Tuesday following a Washington Post report published a day earlier.

The Post reported that, according to leaked US intelligence documents, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi ordered the production but told officials to keep it a secret “to avoid problems with the West”.

A part of the document dated February 17 alleges that el-Sisi and senior Egyptian officials were to provide Russia with artillery rounds and gunpowder.

The senior official who spoke to Al-Qahera News called the Washington Post report “informational tampering that has no basis in truth”, adding that Egypt follows a balanced foreign policy determined by peace, stability and development.

On the claim about Egypt’s rockets to Russia, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Tuesday that they have “seen no indication that Egypt is providing lethal weaponry capabilities to Russia”.

Kirby added that Egypt is a “significant security partner”, and that the relationship between the two goes back decades.

Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov also denied The Washington Post’s report, calling it “another lame duck” in “Western mass media”, Russia’s state-affiliated news agency TASS reported.

Egypt has publicly condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The leaked document that discussed Egypt was part of a trove of leaked reports that purportedly belong to the US Pentagon. They have been circulating on social media channels for weeks, possibly months, so far.

Many of the documents allegedly include secret information on the war in Ukraine, while others appear to show sensitive analyses of US allies, including Israel and South Korea, raising questions about surveillance.

Pentagon spokesman Chris Meagher warned on Monday that the documents could pose “a very serious risk to national security” and lead to the spread of misinformation.

-al jazeera