Russian Media: Egypt received missiles from Moscow

Egypt received S-300 long-range missile defence systems from Moscow this year, Voice of Russia website revealed yesterday.

The website quoted Vyacheslav Dzirkalen, the deputy general manager of the Russian company for military-technical cooperation, as saying: “Venezuela was the first country to receive this system and then Egypt,” adding that “the military experts in these two countries evaluated the specifications of the system and rated it fairly highly.”

There has been no official confirmation that Egypt received this technology from military representatives in Cairo or Moscow.

The S-300 surface-to-air missiles were developed in 1979 and have been developed greatly in recent years, according to media reports.

In September, the Russian-based Interfax Agency announced that a tentative agreement had been reached between Egypt and Russia whereby Egypt was scheduled to receive $3.5 billion of weapons. This has yet to be confirmed by Egypt.

Relations between Egypt and Russia have grown significantly stronger since the ouster of former President Mohamed Morsi.

In February, then Defence Minister Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi visited Russia with Minister of Foreign Affairs Nabil Fahmy. The two sides discussed a possible arms deal.