BBC: Wagner: Scale of Russian mercenary mission in Libya exposed
A BBC investigation has revealed the scale of operations by a shadowy Russian mercenary group in Libya's civil war, which includes links to war crimes and the Russian military.
A Samsung tablet left by a fighter for the Wagner group exposes its key role - as well as traceable fighter codenames.
And the BBC has a "shopping list" for state-of-the-art military equipment which expert witnesses say could only have come from Russian army supplies.
Russia denies any links to Wagner.
The group was first identified in 2014 when it was backing pro-Russian separatists in the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
Since then, it has been involved in regions including Syria, Mozambique, Sudan, and the Central African Republic.
Wagner's fighters appeared in Libya in April 2019 when they joined the forces of a rebel general, Khalifa Haftar, after he launched an attack on the UN-backed government in the capital, Tripoli.
The conflict ended in a ceasefire in October 2020.
Read more ....
Update: BBC Investigation Exposes Extent Of Russian Mercenary Involvement In Libya (RFE)
WNU Editor: Regular readers of this blog know that Russia's involvement in Libya's civil war is old news, and Moscow's close relationship with Khalifa Haftar goes back years .... Russia Wants To Play A Bigger Role In Libya (December 28, 2016).
Update #2: Russia is not the only big foreign military player in Libya .... Russia and Turkey concur on the need to withdraw all foreign fighters from Libyan soil (Lybia Observer). More here .... Libya: Why are there more than 20,000 fighters from Russia, Syria and Chad? (The Africa Report).
Update #3: Russia now wants to win in Libya's political arena .... Putin's Qaddafi Comeback Gambit Sows New Conflict With the West (Financial Post/Bloomberg).
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