THE SOVIETS “RETURN” IN OCTOBERTe l e g r a p h’s John Bulloch on 30 October, headlined “Russians Return to Eg ypt,”
caused a stir as high up as the British foreign secretary:
Russian military advisers are quietly moving back to Eg ypt to man the air defenses along
the Suez Canal and around Cairo. At least 400 are already in the country. Plane loads of
technicians are arriving every day to replace the men expelled by President Sadat last July.
The new Russian Advisers clearly expect to remain this time. Wives and children have also
been arriving, and a Russian club closed three months ago has reopened. ... Sadat’s policy
... was reversed.Bulloch described the dismissal of the “violently anti-Russian” Sadiq as “the price
the Russians demanded for renewed aid,” and claimed that Sidqi was “selected by
Moscow as its man in Cairo” who might even depose Sadat himself if necessary to
forestall an anti-Soviet countercoup.^24
This report, and a similar item in the Financial Times the same day, were soon
discredited.^25 The British ambassador in Cairo, Richard Beaumont, responded to
urgent inquiries from London that he had “no (repeat no) evidence whatever” for
such daily planeloads of advisers. “Our strong impression is that Bulloch came to
Cairo ... to find Russians under every stone. ... He may have succeeded in picking up
just enough clubroom gossip to make this thesis look plausible.”^26 Sir Richard’s coun-
terpart in Beirut was finally “able to tackle Bulloch” a week later, and reported that
the journalist admitted his claims were based on “a general consensus of well-
informed opinion”; the ambassador was impressed that Bulloch “did not appear to
have checked his ‘facts.’”^27 The Financial Times writer who had also referred to a
“return of advisers” told the Foreign Office that “he set very little store by this report
but used it merely as a peg” for his story.^28
Consulted about the Te l e g r a p h article, the British defense attaché in Tel Aviv also
reported that the Israelis “did not believe it to be true,” and estimated that Bulloch
“had read into the removal of Sadek ... more than was justified.” Meeting a new
British ambassador, Israeli Foreign Minister Eban “raised on his initiative the Daily
Te l e g r a p h story” and proceeded to dismiss it:
neither the Israelis nor Washington had any confirmation. ... He thought that the Russians
probably did not want to return to the positions they had held in Eg ypt before 18 July. It
was too close to confrontation with the Americans, and the presence of large numbers of
Russians was bound to irritate Eg yptian nationalist sentiments.The Briton cautiously (and as it now appears, correctly) noted “there may be a
touch of wishful thinking in what Mr Eban said.”^29 In Cairo, Beaumont was entirely
confident that “General Ahmed Ismail is not pro-Soviet. There is strong resistance in
the Eg yptian Army and Air Force to the return of any Soviet advisers, and Sadat
would have difficulty in overcoming it.”^30
A month later, Beaumont did admit that, after all,