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Russia and Egypt have strongly been tied politically and economically for two centuries. Though these relations fluctuated, they cannot be annihilated from history.
Russia, aka. the Russian Federation is located northern Eurasia. It comprises 83 confederate entities. It is the biggest country in the world: for it stretches through both Asia and Europe. Thus, Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, the People’s Republic of China, Mongolia, and North Korea share land borders with it. Due to its extensiveness, it has a variety of topographic relief and environmental features. Russia possesses lots of energy and mineral resources. Likewise, it contains many forests and lakes, thus, including almost a quarter of the world’s fresh water!
A Long History
Diplomatic relations between Egypt and the Russian Empire started in 1784, when Catherine the Great (1729-1796) nominated by her decree a consul in Alexandria. His name was Kondraty Von Tonus. In 1862, the first Russian consulate in Cairo was opened when Alexey Lugovskoy, a diplomat, broadened the work scope of the consulate in Alexandria, inaugurating other bureaus in Port Said, Suez, al-Mansuriya, and Ismailia.
In 1856, the Russian Steam Navigation and Trading Company was opened. The Suez Canal in Egypt was opened for navigation in 1869. In effect, the Russian Emperor and other countries sovereigns signed the Convention of Constantinople on October 29, 1888, guaranteeing passage to all ships during war and peace.
During the tenure of Pope Peter VII, aka. Pope Botros al-Gawly, 109th patriarch, the Tsar of Russia sent him a suggestion that Russia would protect the Coptic Church. The Pope rejected the suggestion, having asked his envoy if the Tsar would live forever. The latter answered in the negative. So, the Pope told him he would rather have God protect the Church for He never dies.
The Twentieth Century
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the Industrial Revolution entered Russia. Russian progressives formed the Union of Zemstvo Constitutionalists in 1903, and the Union of Liberation in 1904, which called for a constitutional monarchy. Russian socialists formed two major groups: the Socialist-Revolutionary Party, following the Russian populist tradition, and the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labor Party. The latter group was for snatching authority by force.
The Russo-Japanese war broke out in 1904-1905. The defeat of the Russian Army was a blow to the Tsar’s regime. This was followed by “Bloody Sunday” that marked the beginning of the Russian Revolution.
At that time, the Egypt-Russian relations continued on the basis that it was an Ottoman province until the outbreak of World War I. The Russian Consulate to Egypt played a great role, having received huge numbers of wounded Russian soldiers, and migrants who were wounded in the Palestinian War. Likewise, the Russian Consulate headed by Smirnov was able to overcome Russian extremists and expel them from Egypt. Yet, with the prevalence of the Russian Revolution and expulsion of the Tsar, Russian diplomats migrated too.
The First Economic Cooperation
On August 1948, the first economic cooperation between Egypt and Russia took place, whereby the first commercial convention was signed to exchange Egyptian cotton with Russian wood and grain.
Jamal Abdul Nasser
The Egypt-Russian relations became quite strong after the outbreak of the 1952 Revolution and Nasser’s presidency. Despite the fact that Russian president Joseph Stalin denied President Mohammed Najib’s request of arms for the Egyptian Army, the relations between the two countries became different after the idea of the High Dam had made its debut. Worthy mentioning is that Stalin told Najib, “How can we ever guarantee that you will not use the arms we give you today in fighting us in the future?”
The Soviet Union and the High Dam
A Greek called Adrian Daninos suggested building a high dam in order to increase the agricultural land, protect the country from floods, and generate enough electricity to establish industrial projects in Egypt. Having studied the project, Egypt resorted to Washington, London, and the World Bank to help her fund the project.
However, Britain and the United States put conditions for the funding, namely,
– Egypt should not make any funding agreements or acquire any loan except with the World Bank’s consent.
– The World Bank is entitled to review Egypt’s budget.
– Egypt’s budget is subject to review lest inflation take place.
– Egypt pledges to dedicate her resources to the High Dam project, allocating one-third her income for ten years for this purpose.
– Excluding the Eastern Bloc from the project totally, and making the agreement contracts on competition basis: for the purpose was to exclude Russia from region, after Nasser had resorted to Russia and the Eastern Bloc to acquire the necessary weapons for the Egyptian Army.
Though Eugene Black, President of the World Bank, tried to compel Egypt to submit to these conditions, Nasser refused them. Consequently, American Secretary of State John Foster Dallas summoned the Egyptian Ambassador to Washington and told him that the American administration retracted from funding the High Dam project. During that meeting, the rejection letter content was distributed among newspapers before it reached the Egyptian government. On the following day, Sir Harold Caccia, British Permanent Under Secretary of State summoned the Egyptian Ambassador to Britain and told him that Britain retracted from funding the High Dam project as well. Then came the nationalization of the Suez Canal to entice Britain, France and Israel to form an alliance to attack Egypt.
The Soviet Union played a crucial role by supporting Egypt in facing the Tripartite Aggression. At the beginning, Moscow did not acknowledge the legitimacy of the London Conference in which the nationalization of the Suez Canal was discussed. It issued a communiqué stating, “It cannot be considered an international conference, neither in terms of nature nor purpose, which is entitled to make any decisions regarding the Suez Canal.” Also, Khrushchev stated that, “Egypt acted within the framework of her rights. She did not violate the international law. The nationalization would not affect the interests of the West.” On November 5, 1956, Marshal Nikolai Bulganin, former Premier of the Soviet Union, sent a message to Israeli Premier Ben-Gurion, stating that Russia condemned the armed aggression toward Egypt which is a violation of the UN Charter and principles. He made it a point that, “The criminal Israeli government which lacks in responsibility is now jiggling the world’s destiny in general and its people’s future in particular.” Also, he sent warning messages to the British and French Prime Ministers, stating that, “The Soviet Union cannot stand still if Egypt is ever attacked.” During the Tripartite Aggression, Nikita Khrushchev raised his shoes in a National Security Council session! He threatened to ignite a third World War if the Tripartite Aggression continued. In effect, a ceasefire resolution was issued, and that the attackers had to withdraw on December 1956.
Then the High Dam project started. The Soviet Union funded it by giving Egypt two 113.2-million-EGP loans. A monument was established to commemorate the Egypt-Russian friendship which has always been a beautiful story… Stories never end in Beautiful Egypt.
General Bishop
Head of the Coptic Orthodox Cultural Center
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