President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi received a phone call Tuesday from the president of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin to discuss the development of the crises in the Middle East, according to a presidency statement.
The two leaders additionally discussed bilateral cooperation in various fields and “agreed to continue further contact,” according to a Kremlin statement.
Al-Sisi had recently received Russian minister of foreign affairs Sergey Lavrov and minister of defence Sergei Shoygu, in which Al-Sisi stated that to handle the challenges facing the Middle East it would require more cooperation between Moscow and Cairo in order to achieve stability.
In a similar context, Putin discussed with the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, where Putin asserted that Russia encourages political dialogue and diplomatic means to settle the recent crises in the region.
Qatari local media further reported that Putin expressed Russia’s interest to settle the crisis between Qatar and the Gulf countries through dialogue.
However, no official statements confirmed if Putin was mediating for Qatar during his telephone conversation with Al-Sisi.
Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Kindgom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), and Egypt, among other countries, announced on Monday cutting diplomatic ties with Qatar and shutting down air and sea ports for Qatari transports, for “Qatar’s support for terrorism and intervening with other counties’ policies.”
The decisions came after tensions culminated following alleged statements by the Emir of Qatar published in May on Qatar’s state-owned news agency QENA, accusing Egypt and the Gulf states of conducting campaigns against Qatar’s image by claiming that Qatar supports terrorism, adding that these countries should “reconsider their antagonistic stance against Qatar.”
Meanwhile, the United States (US) Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) released on Tuesday that Russian hackers were behind the controversial statements published last week on Qatari media news agency, reported CNN.
