Putin seeks to expand influence with Egypt visit

Experts say trip designed to show that Russian president, a key backer of Sisi, is not isolated amid Ukraine crisis.

 

Putin was one of the first leaders to endorse Sisi's presidential bid [EPA]

Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Egypt as Moscow looks to expand its reach in the Arab world's most populous country at a time when Cairo-Washington ties remain frayed.
His two-day trip, starting on Monday, will be Putin's first in a decade to Egypt and comes after a 2011 popular uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak, who the Russian leader met in his previous visit in 2005.
Putin is a key non-Arab backer of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who faces harsh criticism from Washington for his deadly crackdown on dissent since former President Mohamed Morsi was removed from power by Sisi, the then army chief in July 2013.
Hundreds of Morsi's supporters have been killed and thousands imprisoned since.
Experts say Putin's visit is also aimed at showing that he is not isolated internationally despite the crisis in Ukraine.
Officials say Putin's trip is intended to strengthen ties between the two countries.
The leaders will pay special attention to ramping up trade and economic ties between the two countries, the Kremlin said before the visit.
Putin and Sisi are also expected to discuss Iraq, Syria and Libya and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Commercial agreements are also on the agenda, including a likely deal between Russian news agency Rossiya Segodnya and Egypt's state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper, which on Sunday ran a full-page article headlined "Putin - hero of this era".
Russia had hosted Sisi's predecessor Morsi during his one-year presidency, despite banning his Muslim Brotherhood as a "terrorist group" in 2003.
But Russia was also one of the first countries to endorse Sisi's presidential bid last year.
Sisi himself visited Russia soon after ousting Morsi as a defence minister amid deteriorating relations with Washington, and followed it up with another trip in August 2014 as president.
Cairo also hosted the Russian defence and foreign ministers in November, the first such visit since the Soviet era, for discussions on an Egyptian arms purchase plan.
"Putin continues to take advantage of ambiguity and contradictions in Western policies toward the Middle East," said Anna Borshchevskaya of The Washington Institute For Near East Policy.
As long as Washington criticises "Egypt's democratic backslide... it keeps open the door for Putin... to gain influence in Egypt at the expense of US interests," she said.