Russia denies deployment of special forces in Egypt

The Russian Defense Ministry said yesterday it did not have special forces in Egypt after US, Egyptian and diplomatic sources told Reuters it appeared to have deployed such forces to an Egyptian airbase, the Interfax news agency reported.

The US and diplomatic officials said any such Russian deployment might be part of a bid to support Libyan military commander Khalifa Haftar, who suffered a setback with an attack on March 3 by the Benghazi Defence Brigades (BDB) on oil ports controlled by his forces.

The US officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, had said the United States has observed what appeared to be Russian special operations forces and drones at Sidi Barrani, about 60 miles (100 km) from the Egypt-Libya border.

Egyptian security sources offered more detail, describing a 22-member Russian special forces unit, but declined to discuss its mission. They added that Russia also used another Egyptian base farther east in Marsa Matrouh in early February.

Egypt has increased cooperation with Russia under Egypt's Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, including a preliminary agreement to build a nuclear power plant. Egypt also announced last October that it will host Russian troops for war games along the Mediterranean coast, the latest step in the two countries' rapprochement. While moving closer to Russia, as one of the non-permanent Security Council members, Egypt voted in favor of Russian draft resolutions on Syria at the U.N. Security Council last year.

Egypt has been trying to persuade the Russians to resume flights to Egypt, which have been suspended since a Russian plane carrying 224 people from the Red Sea resort of Sharm al-Sheikh to St Petersburg was brought down by a bomb in October 2015. The attack was claimed by a Daesh branch that operates out of northern Sinai. Russia says that its primary objective in the Middle East is to contain the spread of violent terrorist groups.