The political settlement in Syria was one of the main topics during today's meeting between Vladimir Putin and his Egyptian counterpart. The Russian president flew to Cairo directly from Syria.
Another issue was the resumption of direct air travel between Russia and Egypt. However, the central topic was the construction of a nuclear power plant. Rosatom will build four power units in Egypt. The launch of the first one is scheduled for 2026. The total cost of the project is more than 20 billion dollars. This is a record deal in the world's nuclear industry.
Pavel Zarubin reporting.
He’s rapidly walking to the Russian Air Force One. Egyptian President El-Sisi came to the airport personally to meet Vladimir Putin.
President El-Sisi: "I'm glad to welcome you. How was your trip?"
President Putin: "I'll tell you everything".
By diplomatic canons, this is a sign of special respect. The working visit actually became a state one. Egyptian television is broadcasting live.
They use each minute for a detailed conversation. Putin and El-Sisi take the same car and go through the streets of Cairo. It’s clear, of course, what they were talking about at that time. Putin flew here from Syria where he announced the defeat of the terrorists. And now, the main thing is civil reconciliation.
President Putin: “We’re grateful to our Egyptian partners for supporting the Russian initiative to convene the National Dialogue Congress in Syria. We mean attracting to his work a variety of opposition groups, including representatives of the so-called Moscow and Cairo platforms.
Automatic riflemen, armored vehicles, the presidential residence is an especially protected facility. Especially, after the recent terrible terror attack. Special measures, as they say here, were also taken to protect airports.
Today’s Egyptian newspapers had headlines in Russian with a pledge to bring Russian tourists back to the country.
Direct air travel between Russia and Egypt was interrupted more than two years ago. To get to Cairo, for example, I had to make a transfer in Turkey. This is a minimum of 7-8 hours of travel instead of three and a half.
The aviation authorities of Egypt, according to Russian experts, have done much to improve the level of tourists protection.
President Putin: "Russian Security Service reported to me that, in general, we’re ready to open direct air travel between Moscow and Cairo. It’ll be necessary to sign an appropriate intergovernmental protocol, we’ll strive to ensure that it was signed in the very near future".
It's not clear yet when exactly. Minister of Transport Sokolov constantly speaks on the phone on the sidelines, the agreement is underway. The first flight, if everything goes according to plan, will take place not earlier than in February.
Maxim Sokolov, Minister of Transport of Russia. "It won’t happen in a second, it’ll take from about one and a half to two months from the moment of making the political decision before real flights begin".
Hundreds of Russian high-qualified specialists will soon travel to Egypt. It was decided to build the first nuclear power plant in the country, it’s a breakthrough project for Egypt.
Alexey Likhachev, Rosatom CEO:
- It can be compared with the famous construction of the Aswan Dam from the Soviet times.
- Will it be another symbol?
- Yes, I think it’ll be another symbol.
President El-Sisi calls modern Russia the friend of Egypt.
Of course, the presidents talked in detail about the situation in the region which got worse after Trump decided to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, President of Egypt. "We discussed the consequences of this decision which is dangerous for the conflict settlement".
President Putin: "We consider as counterproductive any steps that anticipate the outcome of the dialogue between the Palestinians and the Israelis. Such steps are destabilizing, they don’t help to resolve the problem, but rather provoke conflicts".
A minute after the end of the press conference, the President was traveling again.
President Vladimir Putin’s cortege is going to the airport right now and he’s leaving Cairo for Ankara. Thus, including Syria, Putin visited three countries in one day.
Pavel Zarubin, Andrei Melnikov, Nikita Fomkin, Vladimir Ozerov, Pavel Kostrikov, and Igor Vologdin, Vesti, Egypt.
