CAIRO — Egypt's military chief is heading to Moscow in a rare visit to the Russian capital by the Arab nation's top commander — and the first since the popularly-backed coup that ousted the country's Islamist president last summer.

Military spokesman Col. Ahmed Mohammed Ali says Field Marshal Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi is accompanied on the trip, which starts Wednesday, by Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy.

Ali says the trip follows the "historic" visit by a top-level Russian delegation in November.

Moscow is trying to expand its influence in Egypt, a key U.S. ally in the Middle East, at a time when U.S.-Egyptian relations have soured after the military's ouster of President Mohammed Morsi last July.

El-Sissi is widely expected to announce he will run for president in elections that are likely due in late April.