“Never before (1970) had the Soviet Union injected anything like the quantity of sophisticated military equipment into a non-Communist country in such a short time” as it did into Egypt last year, according to the Institute for Strategic Studies. The Institute’s annual report, published today, states that the USSR gave Egypt 200 pilots, 150 MIG jets and $2.5 billion in military aid in 1970, with Soviet personnel there now totalling 12,000-15,000 missile experts and 4,000 “advisors” and the financial aid since 1967 totalling $4.5 billion. The Institute contends that this massive aid buildup actually has given Egypt “if anything, even less independent authority” to withstand Israeli strikes. But at the same time, the report continues, the Soviet aid inflow gave Egypt what is considered to be a much-needed strategic shot-in-the-arm and caused Israel to be more careful in her attacks.
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