Israeli newspapers reported today that Egyptian President Nasser has asked visiting Soviet Premier Aleksei Kosygin for information about the “improvement in Soviet-Israeli relations.”
The newspapers quoted well-informed sources that secret diplomatic contacts between Egypt and Russia dealt with that issue prior to Premier Kosygin’s arrival in Cairo yesterday. Israeli sources indicated concern that Egyptian pressures, combined with the Soviet desire to increase its influence in Syria, might still further retard the recent slight improvement in Israeli-Russian relations.
In welcoming the Soviet leader. President Nasser lashed out yesterday at Israel and pro-Western forces in the Middle East. The Soviet Premier, in his response, made almost no comments on the Middle East situation except to emphasize Soviet-Egyptian solidarity, according to reports here from Cairo.
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