Libya starts compiling evidence of Russian mercenaries fighting for Haftar’s forces

Officials in Libya’s U.N.-supported government say they plan to confront Moscow over the alleged deployment of Russian mercenaries fighting alongside their opponents in the country’s civil war.

Libyan and U.S. officials accuse Russia of deploying fighters through a private security contractor, the Wagner Group, to key battleground areas in Libya in the past months.

They say the Russian fighters are backing Khalifa Hifter, whose forces have been trying for months to capture the capital Tripoli. The U.N.-supported Government of National Accord is based in Tripoli.

The GNA has documented between 600 to 800 Russian fighters in Libya and is collecting their names in a list to present to the Russian government, according to Khaled Al-Mishri, the head of the Tripoli-based government’s High Council of State, as reported by The Associated Press.

“We are going to visit Russia after we collect all evidence and present to the authorities and see what they say,” Al-Mishri told The Associated Press last week. He did not say when that visit would take place, AP added.