President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi of Egypt recently ordered subordinates to produce up to 40,000 rockets to be covertly shipped to Russia, according to a leaked US intelligence document, The Washington Post reported.

A portion of a top secret document, dated February 17, summarizes purported conversations between Sisi and senior Egyptian military officials and also references plans to supply Russia with artillery rounds and gunpowder.

In the document, Sisi instructs the officials to keep the production and shipment of the rockets secret “to avoid problems with the West.”

In response to questions regarding the document and the veracity of the conversations it describes, Ambassador Ahmed Abu Zeid, spokesman for Egypt’s Foreign Ministry, said that “Egypt’s position from the beginning is based on noninvolvement in this crisis and committing to maintain equal distance with both sides, while affirming Egypt’s support to the U.N. charter and international law in the U.N. General Assembly resolutions.”

“We continue to urge both parties [i.e., Russia and Ukraine] to cease hostilities and reach a political solution through negotiations,” he added.

A US government official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to address sensitive information, said: “We are not aware of any execution of that plan,” referring to the rocket export initiative.