“The military equipment that has long been operating in Libya is misrepresented as new Russian supplies”, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said.
“A mass of erroneous data or deliberate falsification is permissible for military products. In particular, equipment that has been operating in Libya for a long time is misrepresented as recent Russian supplies”, he said in an interview with the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram, published on the website of the Russian diplomatic mission.
Bogdanov also denied the data about the presence of employees of the PMC Wagner in Libya, saying that the data about their participation in the battles on the side of Marshal Khalifa Haftar is based on fabricated data and is aimed at discrediting Russian policy.
“Information spread by some foreign sources, including the US State Department that the Wagner Group’s members are present in Libya and participate in combat actions on the side of the Libyan National Army of Khalifa Haftar, largely relies on fabricated data and is aimed at discrediting Russia’s policy on Libya. Such claims are often based on doubtful sources, which have direct interest in supporting Haftar’s opponents. It’s impossible to prove the credibility of a whole number of facts”, Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia highlighted.
"A lot of data, especially concerning the above mentioned Russian citizens, are simply unfounded. In fact, people, who are allegedly fighting in Libya, did not leave our country. It’s noteworthy that the lists were copied from the odious Ukrainian database Mirotvorets”, the high-ranking diplomat added.
Conference on Libya
Mikhail Bogdanov also spoke out on the issue of holding a conference on Libya in online format. It, he said, is unlikely to bring concrete results.
“Unfortunately, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the implementation of the Berlin Conference decisions has been indefinitely suspended. The ongoing attempts to hold multilateral teleconferences are unlikely to significantly help the cause”, he said.
According to him, the worst thing for the peace process is that negotiations among Libyans themselves have been frozen on all tracks - military, political and economic. “In this regard, I believe that it is necessary to decide as soon as possible with the new special representative of the UN Secretary General for Libya instead of the retired Lebanese Ghassan Salamé”, the diplomat said.
Bogdanov noted that Egypt is one of Russia’s main partners and allies in facilitating the Libyan settlement. We closely coordinated approaches on this issue with our Egyptian partners during the preparation and holding of the Berlin Conference. We maintain regular contacts on Libyan issues at the highest level”, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia added.
On January 19, a conference on Libyan settlement at the level of heads of state and government, including the Russian Federation, took place in Berlin.The conference’s final communique includes a call to ceasefire, as well as the call for foreign countries to refrain from intervening in Libya’s affairs, while it also proposes creation of a single government and launch of reforms to restore statehood that was demolished by NATO almost ten years ago. The second round of inter-Libyan negotiations in Geneva on February 23 resulted in a draft ceasefire agreement, which was never implemented.
The situation in Libya
Currently, Libya has two parallel bodies of executive power: the Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli headed by Fayez al-Sarraj, and Abdullah Abdurrahman al-Thani’s interim government, operating in the country’s east together with parliament and supported by the Libyan National Army (LNA), led by Commander Khalifa Haftar. For over a year, the warring parties have been fighting for the capital of Libya after Haftar attacked Tripoli on April 4, 2019, with the aim, he said, of freeing the capital from terrorists.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Zuma \ TASS
Based on materials from RIA Novosti, TASS