Egyptian Defence Minister Sedki Sobhi started a trip to Russian capital Moscow on Saturday, leading a high-level military delegation, a statement from the Egyptian armed forces said. According to the statement, the official visit is due to last "several days" and will involve "important" consultations "with top Russian military officials, with the purpose of increasing the aspects of military and security cooperation." The officials are also due to discuss the "transfer" and "exchange" of military expertise, the statement said. Meanwhile, Egypt's state-run news agency reported MENA that Nikolai Patrushev, the Russian secretary of the Kremlin's Security Council is due to visit Egypt on Sunday, in a visit that will last two days. His visit comes in response to an invitation by Egypt's presidential adviser for national security Faiza Abu el-Naga. Patrushev reportedly leads a high-level delegation that includes representatives from Russia's interior and defence ministries. These visits come at a time of heightened bi-lateral cooperation between the two countries. Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks with Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, earlier this month during a visit to Cairo, and the two sides agreed to "reinforce military cooperation". They additionally agreed to build a power plant in Egypt to generate electricity using nuclear energy, among several other cooperation agreements. A Russian delegation arrived in Cairo today, in a step to implement the nuclear energy agreement. Sisi has visited Russia twice in 2014, once as defence minister in February on a trip that came as follow-up to a visit by Russian defence minister to Cairo in November 2013. More recently Sisi visited Russia last August as president. Source: Egypt Independent
