The London Daily Express reported today from Amman that President Nasser of Egypt had promised the Russians two bases in return for their military and political aid.
The Russians would be given a naval base at Mersa Matruh, a fishing port 140 miles west of Alexandria, the paper said. The other base would be in the Sinai Peninsula — now in Israeli hands — and would be for Soviet aircraft.
The newspaper reported that the Soviet flotilla now in Egyptian ports was strengthened yesterday by the arrival of another destroyer at Alexandria.
(The Columbia Broadcasting System reported today that a new element had been added to the presence of Soviet naval forces in the Mediterranean with the disclosure that the flotilla included landing craft carrying Soviet marines trained for landing operations.)
(In Washington, the State Department said it had no confirmation of reports that Soviet marine detachments had gone ashore from Russian ships and were deploying at Ismailia and along the Suez Canal. Spokesman Robert McCloskey said the Department could not even verify that marines were aboard the numerous Soviet naval vessels now in Port Said and Alexandria.)
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