On 28 August, the National Interest magazine reported that Egyptian authorities had signed a $2 billion military agreement with Russia to buy 50 warplanes. The new aircrafts are MIG-35, an upgrade of the MIG-29 with more precision and capacity. Since the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi took power in 2014, cooperation between Moscow and Cairo has intensified, especially in military areas. Despite some tensions in 2015 due to the crash of a Russian  jet in Sinai, the two countries have continued to improve their cooperation since the resumption of Russian air traffic to Cairo last year. The Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Cairo in 2017 and President Sisi made an official visit to Moscow in 2018.