British Reporter Says Russians Have Completely Taken over Egyptian Army Training

Soviet Russia is not only re-arming Egypt but has the training of Egyptian armed forces completely in its hands through huge cadres of technicians and instructors now on Egyptian soil and a training and planning mission reportedly headed by 15 Soviet generals attached to a combined Soviet-Egyptian headquarters, Clare Hollingworth reported from Cairo today to the London Daily Telegraph. But the Russians, she said, “insist on keeping their finger on the trigger of the sophisticated offensive non-nuclear weapons’ that they have supplied to Egypt and demand the same control over weapons supplied to Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Algeria and even to Jordan ‘should the Russians, as everyone expects, begin to supply them with arms.”

Miss Hollingworth reported that there are 3,000 Russians, Czechs, Bulgarians and Poles in Egypt and another 1,000 instructors training Egyptian troops in and around the Suez Canal zone. “There is no doubt, even to the most casual observer, that the morale of Egyptian forces has increased enormously since the period of intensive training with the Russians began,” Miss Hollingworth reported, noting that other Russian groups are at work in plants near Cairo where “new Russian weapons are assembled.” She said that, so far, the Russians have not required Egypt to pay for the new arms.