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DISINFO: The presence of Russian mercenaries in Libya is nothing but a rumour

DISINFORMATION CASE DETAILS

Tags:

Middle East and North Africa Military Hybrid war Anti-Russian Middle East Foreign mercenaries

DISINFO: The presence of Russian mercenaries in Libya is nothing but a rumour

SUMMARY

The allegations that “Russian mercenaries” are present in Libya are nothing more than rumours.

RESPONSE

A recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the Kremlin-linked mercenary group Wagner and Russian presence in Libya.

The Wagner Group is a private army with ties to the Kremlin and has been operating in Libya since October 2018, according to a report compiled by independent monitors for the UN's Libya sanctions committee. It is a mercenary outfit engaged in conflicts on the Kremlin’s behalf from Ukraine to Syria to the Central African Republic. The Wagner group members are mostly ex-service personnel who fought clandestinely in support of Russian forces in Syria and Ukraine, according to Reuters interviews with dozens of contractors, their friends and relatives.

According to Foreign Policy, the group fell into disgrace after the Syrian offensive and has recently been trying to find work in Africa in the training of local militias and with contracts for private security. Three Russian journalists who were investigating Wagner's presence in the Central African Republic were murdered in the summer of 2018. Others were threatened.

Bloomberg has reported that more than 100 Wagner contractors arrived in Libya in early September to assist General Khalifa Haftar’s offensive against the GNA in Tripoli that began in April.

For more information on the Wagner group, see our report on a Russian attempt to hide evidence of its existence and activities.

Disclaimer

Cases in the EUvsDisinfo database focus on messages in the international information space that are identified as providing a partial, distorted, or false depiction of reality and spread key pro-Kremlin messages. This does not necessarily imply, however, that a given outlet is linked to the Kremlin or editorially pro-Kremlin, or that it has intentionally sought to disinform. EUvsDisinfo publications do not represent an official EU position, as the information and opinions expressed are based on media reporting and analysis of the East Stratcom Task Force.

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