Reports

The expulsion of Mahmoud al-Sisi to Moscow: Could Putin’s experience be repeated?

In the face of growing public anger over his son’s interference in political and public life, General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi decided to expel his eldest son Mahmoud al-Sisi, who works as an agent of the General Intelligence Service, from the political scene in Egypt and assigned him with a long mission in Russia.

Two separate sources in the General Intelligence Service (GIS) said that the decision was made after Mahmoud’s influence increased and he mismanaged a number of files, which negatively affected his father’s reputation, according to Mada Masr.

The sources pointed out that the period to be spent by al-Sisi’s son in Moscow could be months, perhaps even years. An official top government source said that al-Sisi’s son is going to be a military envoy in Russia.

It is expected that the resolution will be implemented in January 2020, after the president’s son is moved from General Intelligence to Military Intelligence. The president has already talked about the matter with Russia, which welcomed it.

The New Khalij news website said earlier that the proposal to expulse al-Sisi’s son was issued by the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, Mohammed bin Zayed, the closest ally of the Egyptian president.

Mahmoud al-Sisi has surfaced as one of the most important decision-makers in Egypt, and his name has frequented Arab and international media reports.

Mahmoud al-Sisi’s policies greatly damaged General al-Sisi and his family’s image, and he became a clear threat to the stability of the system in general, after he failed in most of the files that he took responsibility for.

The decision aims to get Mahmoud out of the scene in a gentle manner, which will calm popular criticism.

The resolution also gives Mahmoud the opportunity to gain new experience, a scenario that immediately received approval from al-Sisi.

Al-Sisi chose to move his son to Russia, which is close to Egypt, according to intelligence sources.

Al-Sisi also hopes that Mahmoud’s transfer to Russia will be an opportunity for him to acquire experience and transfer the Russian experience to Egypt, especially the experience of Russian intelligence. Russian President Vladimir Putin was an officer in Russian intelligence before becoming president.

Sources in the GIS pointed out that the media press file is one of the most prominent files that Mahmoud failed in. Mahmoud al-Sisi has controlled the Egyptian media directly for more than a year, the same period in which General al-Sisi lost much of his influence, to the extent that he publicly criticised the media more than once.

The GIS also controls many media outlets such as the DMC network, On TV, Al Hayat TV and Al Nahar TV, as well as a controlling a stake in the CBC channels, as well as Radio 9090 and a number of press sites including the seventh day, the voice of the nation. But the media was not the only file that al-Sisi’s son failed in.

The appearance of businessman and contractor Mohamed Ali sparked more public outrage at Mahmoud al-Sisi. He was assigned to control the aftermath of his revelations but he was not successful. 

Mohamed Ali sparked rare, popular demonstrations calling for an end to al-Sisi’s rule with other slogans that condemn the president and his family members.

Ali revealed details of the president and his family’s spending of hundreds of millions of Egyptian pounds to build new palaces and villas, and described Mahmoud al-Sisi’s role in this.

For months, Mahmoud was responsible for enforcing al-Sisi’s instructions for repression and large-scale arrests following the September 20 protests.

The crackdown sparked a wave of anger directed at al-Sisi and Mahmoud, prompting Mahmoud’s immediate expulsion.

Sources say this was done on the advice of the UAE during al-Sisi’s recent visit to Abu Dhabi. During that visit the UAE agreed to establish a $20 billion investment platform with Egypt.

According to sources, these investments were conditional on alleviating growing public anger in the country, including over Mahmoud.