Washington has no problem with Egyptian-Russian plans for a nuclear station west of Cairo, the US Department of State said Tuesday.
“We support peaceful nuclear power programs as long as obligations under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to which Egypt is a signatory and obligations to the IAEA are fully met and the highest international standards regulating security, nonproliferation, export controls, and physical security are strictly followed,” US State Department spokesperson, Jen Psaki, said during the daily press briefing.
"We don’t have concerns about what we know to date about this (memorandum of understanding),” Psaki said, noting however, that the US Administration is not yet fully aware of the details of the memorandum of understanding agreed by the Egyptian and Russian leaders.
During his two-day visit to Cairo, Putin Was quoted as saying that once agreement is reached with Egypt over the establishment of a nuclear plant, construction could start immediately.
President Sisi said an memorandum of understanding had been signed during the meeting with Putin for the construction of Egypt’s long-waited nuclear-powered electricity station in Dabaa.
Cairo has sought closer economic and military cooperation with Moscow, Washington’s arch political rival, since relations were strained with the US, which was hesitant to approve the ouster of Sisi’s predecessor, Mohamed Morsy, and later harshly condemned the dispersals of Rabaa al-Adaweya and Rabaa squares, where at least 800 pro-Morsy demonstrators were killed by the Egyptian military.
