Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry and President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi during a visit to Cairo April 12, where talks focused on bilateral ties and regional conflicts — including Egypt and Sudan’s dispute with Ethiopia over the mega-dam Addis Ababa is constructing on the Nile. Lavrov also held talks with General Intelligence Service chief Abbas Kamel.

Lavrov’s visit to Egypt came shortly after April 10 talks between the presidents of Ukraine and Turkey in Istanbul, which took place against the background of the aggravation of the situation in eastern Ukraine. Because of this, the top Russian diplomat’s arrival in Cairo was viewed as a kind of retaliatory move by Moscow in response to Ukrainian-Turkish contacts. For Turkey, Egypt is one of the main rivals for influence in the Middle East, and diplomatic relations between the two states have been tense since they broke relations in 2013 following the ouster of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi. 

Moscow is concerned about Turkish-Ukrainian military and technical cooperation generally, and specifically the prospects of Turkey supplying the Bayraktar drone to Kiev. This topic was also touched upon during the visit of the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry to Egypt.

"I will tell you straightaway that we urge all responsible countries that we communicate with — and Turkey is one of them — that we strongly recommend they analyze the situation and the Kiev regime’s relentless belligerent statements, and we also warn them against encouraging these militaristic aspirations," Lavrov said during a press conference with Shoukry in Cairo.