Sisi victory in Egypt presidential poll means closer ties with Russia - lawmaker
MOSCOW. May 29 (Interfax) - The head of the Federation Council's International Affairs Committee has hailed Thursday's victory of Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Egypt's presidential election and forecast that his presidency would mean closer ties between Russia and Egypt.
"This victory holds out a promise of further development of relations between Egypt and Russia. At a meeting with President Vladimir Putin during a visit to Moscow, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said his country was open to boosting ties with us across a wide range of mutually advantageous areas," Mikhail Margelov told Interfax.
He said Sisi's victory meant several lessons.
"'Orange revolutions don't bring peace to the countries that let them go ahead, even though they may be called 'Arab Spring.' In Egypt, power went over to Islamists, who busied themselves with the creeping Islamicization of Egyptian society with its massacres of infidels and with disregard of the urgent social and economic problems of the country," Margelov said.
National problems were in effect tackled at private meetings, he added.
He argued that Sisi's victory was predictable and meant that Islamist rule is not an inevitable outcome of protest movements in Arab countries.
The initial objectives of the Arab Spring movement in Egypt were economic reforms and eradication of injustice, poverty, unemployment and corruption, he mentioned.
"The Egyptian Islamists have failed to live up to those expectations. However, they have been clinging to power, and terrorism is one of the methods they have used. The latest events in Libya are a good example. So it is only power that can defeat Islamist lawlessness and terrorism," Margelov said.
He argued that in Egypt it has always been the military that can exercise such power.
He denied that Sisi's victory spells military dictatorship. He claimed that Sisi had declared war on Islamist terrorists alone and not on Muslim Brotherhood as a whole. "Moreover, the 'Arab Spring' has woken up the Egyptian masses, and the first signs of dictatorship would entail a new 'Tahrir,' which is today celebrating the victory of the elected military president," he said.
