Why does the Russian Sukhoi 35 fighters deal to Egypt's concern Washington?

In a new development related to the file of Egyptian -American relations, the US State Department said that Minister Anthony Blinkkin expressed Washington's concern about the possibility of Egypt to buy Sukhoi 35 fighters from Russia, in a recent phone call with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry.

What is the story of that deal?

In 2019, Egypt signed a two -billion dollar agreement with Russia aimed at buying about 20 Sukhoi 35 combat aircraft.

This angered the United States, as US officials waved the possibility of sanctions on Egypt in the event of insisting on completing the purchase of Russian aircraft.

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However, Egypt passed in that deal and the first five -batch was already received in August 2020, according to the Monitor website.

The first to reveal this deal was the former Russian military correspondent, Ivan Safronov, who was arrested last year and was charged with treason..

Safronov, who worked as an assistant to the director of the Russian Space Agency (Roskosmos), was covering the military affairs of two government newspapers.

The TASS agency quoted a judicial source in June 2019 as saying that the public prosecutor wants to file a civil lawsuit against the newspaper "Kumantant" to reveal it from the secrets of the state.

At that time, the "Ban" electronic portal indicated that an article was working on Safronov after that on the newspaper’s website.

This article stated that Egypt signed a deal with Russia to buy more than 20 Sukhoi 35 combat aircraft..

Why Sukhoi 35 fighter?

Teenage taps, from the presentation of a dignity as a vehicle and prepared by Mays Baqi.

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The Sukhoi fighter is 35 multi -task aircraft.It is able to carry out the tasks of the air incursion into the enemy sky, provide the full cover of the ground forces, impose air control in the sky of the battle, and to neutralize all the movements of anti -aircraft..

Also, this fighter plane has a superior ability to maneuver, and it is equipped with techniques of the fifth generation to ensure air superiority in the same category of fighters, and is able to hit ground targets.

The speed of this engines fighter plane reaches 2,400 km per hour, and it is equipped with modern smart weapons that allow it to monitor and destroy a number of air and ground targets at one time and with great accuracy.

ما هو قانون "كاتسا"؟

US officials have waved the possibility of sanctions on Egypt in the event of insisting on completing the purchase of Russian aircraft.

In November 2019, Clark Cooper, US Assistant Secretary of State for Political and Military Affairs at that time, said that the United States may impose sanctions on Egypt and deprive them of future military sales "if it purchased Russian warplanes.".

The American newspaper "Wall Street Journal" also published a report in which it said that the American administration threatened to impose sanctions on Egypt, noting that the White House called Cairo to cancel that deal.

The newspaper said in its report published in 2019 that the American threat came in a joint message sent by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Mark Esber, calling on the Egyptian Ministry of Defense to cancel the acquisition of the Russian Sukhoi 35 fighters, explaining that if Cairo does not comply with that, he mayFacing penalties.

The United States can impose sanctions under a law known as "fighting the opponents of America through sanctions", known as the "Katsa" law, which was approved by the US Senate on August 2 of 2017 and former President Donald Trump was signed, a law that is primarily targeted.Russian military sales.

The "Katsa" law was mainly issued to punish Moscow for its inclusion of Crimea.

Some observers say that Washington may threaten Cairo to reduce the value of military aid to Egypt if it insists on completing the Russian aircraft deal..

The Egyptian army arsenal includes a large number of American weapons that have accumulated for decades since the signing of the peace agreement between Egypt and Israel under American auspices in 1979.

During recent decades, the United States has provided billions of dollars in Egypt in the form of military and economic aid, including providing them with F-16 fighters, offensive helicopters, and other military equipment.

The United States says that the use of Sukhoi fighters and other Russian military systems is a threat to the country's ability to work jointly with the armies of the United States and NATO countries.

Stress and penalties

The United States of America pressed India to prevent it from buying Russian weapons, but India did not respond to these pressures and continued to buy as before.

In 2018, Washington imposed sanctions on the Department of Equipment Development in the Chinese Ministry of Defense and its largest administrators to buy Russian Sukhoi 35 fighters and the S-400-land-air system.

After imposing sanctions on China, Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin Washington, was accused of using sanctions to remove Russia from the arms sale market.

Peskov said: "It is an unfair competition, and an attempt to adopt means contrary to the market rules and the principles of international trade to remove the main competitor to the United States from the arms market, and Hysteria has made US sanctions a new blow to Russian -American relations.".

Last December, Washington imposed sanctions on Turkey, which purchased Russian defense systems.

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The penalties, head of the Turkish Defense Industries Directorate, Ismail Demir, and three other employees.

The sanctions included a ban on American export licenses, and the freezing of all assets subject to American judicial bodies.

For its part, the Turkish Foreign Ministry called on the United States to "review this unjust decision," adding that Turkey "is ready to address the issue through dialogue and diplomacy, in line with the spirit of the coalition".

The Turkish Foreign Ministry warned that the US sanctions "will inevitably affect negatively" the relations between the two parties, and that Turkey "will respond in the way and in the appropriate time".

Ankara invoked that the purchase of the Russian missile system came after the United States refused to provide it with the American system.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov condemned the US resolution, describing it as "another aspect of arrogance towards international law", "evidence of unlawful unilateral compulsive measures used by the United States for many years, and decades already, left and right"..

Egypt's position

Egyptian officials say that Cairo has the right to choose weapons according to what is appropriate for its own agenda, and some officials in Egypt emphasize that Cairo is following the policy of "diversifying the sources of arms" that it gets in order to meet its security needs..

In November 2019, Kamal Amer, Chairman of the Defense and National Security Committee in the Egyptian Parliament at that time, told BBC Radio: "Egypt is proud of its regional and global role and it deals with all countries of the world within the framework of balanced relations and within the framework of the peer, not dependency,And also within the framework of common interests..

Amer added that Egypt always chooses its weapon according to its characteristics, and that "it achieves the high ability and combat efficiency of its forces according to the tasks assigned to it.".

Egyptian military experts believe that Russian Sukhoi 35 aircraft are the best alternative to F-15 aircraft, which the United States sells to Israel and Saudi Arabia in the Middle East region.

In the statements of the BBC in November 2019, the military expert Safwat al -Zayat said that among the high advantages of the Sukhoi plane 35 has its ability to "a load of ammunition up to eight tons, in addition to its total range exceeding 2200 miles, as well asOn a radar known as the negative electronic survey ".

Egyptian analysts and media say that Cairo is moving according to its higher interests in order to achieve its sovereignty and its right to obtain the weapon that achieves its goals..

Forbes magazine says that the Egyptian fleet of F-16 aircraft clearly lacks a long-range EMM-Joe-Joe missile that most F-16 aircraft in the Air Force in other countries in the Middle East, with the exception of Iraq..

On the other hand, the Egyptian Rafale aircraft (which Egypt bought from France) armed with a long -range air -to -air missile, and if the new Sukhoi 35 aircraft are armed with R77 missiles, the Russian equivalent to Amram, the Egyptian fighters (French and Russian) will undoubtedly exceed without a doubtAmerican fighters.

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Hence, if Egypt is confident that it can avoid or overcome any possible American sanctions because of its purchase of Russian fighters, then Cairo may have calculated that these purchases deserve this risk.

New sales

Despite this controversy over the Russian fighter deal for Egypt, the administration of US President Joe Biden announced earlier this February, its approval of a $ 197 million missile deal to Egypt..

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The US State Department said in a statement in this regard..

The US State Department statement added: "This proposed sale will support the Egyptian navy rapid missile ships and provide great defensive capabilities for the Egyptian coastal areas and the entrances to the Suez Canal.".