Daily Times

Officials in UN-supported government in Tripoli — Government of National Accord (GNA) — 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 US 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 commander Khalifa Haftar, whose forces have been trying for months to capture the capital 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-Meshri, the head of the GNA’s Supreme Council of State.

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

Moscow has repeatedly denied playing any role in Libya’s fighting.

Haftar’s Libyan National Army — made up of army units and tribesmen — launched its offensive on Tripoli in April after seizing much of eastern Libya from militants and other rivals in recent years. Haftar is backed by the UAE and Egypt, as well as France and Russia. Libya was plunged into chaos when a NATO-backed uprising toppled longtime ruler Muammar Qaddafi in 2011. The country is now split between a government in the east, allied with Haftar, and the GNA in Tripoli in the west. Both sides are bolstered by militias. Fighting has stalled in recent weeks, with both sides dug in and shelling one another along Tripoli’s southern reaches.

US Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs David Schenker told reporters last week that the State Department is working with European partners to impose sanctions on the Russian military contractor responsible for sending fighters to Tripoli.

“The way that this organization of Russians in particular has operated before raises the specter of large-scale casualties in civilian populations,” he said.

Schenker’s comments came shortly after US officials met with Haftar to press for a cease-fire and “expressed serious concern” over Russia’s intervention in the conflict.

But President Donald Trump has sent decidedly mixed messages to Haftar.

Trump voiced support of Haftar when he launched his attempt to take over Tripoli, praising the commanders “anti-terrorism” efforts in a phone conversation. The call was a sharp break with the US policy of supporting Tripoli-based Prime Minister Fayez Al-Sarraj. Al-Meshri called for confidence-building measures and a push toward presidential and parliamentary elections.

“Since Qaddafi’s ouster, there have been no presidential elections. People are fed up,” he said. The Russians’ presence has further mired an already complex conflict.

Al-Meshri maintains his administration has strong evidence that there are Russians fighters on the ground.

He says that government forces have found cell phones, intercepted communications and seized personal belongings left behind in the chaos of battle. He said flight data show dates and names of Russians moving from Syria to Egypt and then the Jordanian capital of Amman before flying to the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, Haftar’s seat of power. He didn’t elaborate or present any of these documents or items to the AP.

Wagner Group is believed to have sent mercenaries to multiple conflicts, including Syria, Ukraine and elsewhere, raising accusations that Moscow is using it to spread its influence. The firm is a military contractor run by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a businessman with close ties to the Kremlin. Russian officials have refused in the past to comment on the firm’s activities.

By deploying fighters into Libya, Russia is embroiling itself in another conflict in the Middle East. Russia’s military is involved in Syria’s civil war, conducting airstrikes and deploying troops and military police. That operation successfully shored up Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government and — at a relatively modest cost — helped Moscow expand its clout in the region.

Analysts believe that Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to find leverage with Western powers in oil-rich Libya. They say he also recognizes that the country is a gateway for many migrants trying to reach European shores.

“Most of this is smoke and mirrors designed to induce fear,” said Anas Gamati, founder of the Tripoli-based Sadeq Institute. “Russian influence has done only two things: inflate their size and specter of their power in Libya. They’re not positively engaged or trying to play a constructive role with diplomatic or political value.”

Officially, Russia continues to maintain a dialogue with both sides. Haftar has visited Moscow several times the past years, and a delegation of the Tripoli-based government met with Putin during a Russia-Africa Economic Forum summit in Sochi in October.

The allegations of Russian interference come amid a renewed push for international players to reach a consensus on Libya.

Germany is working with the United Nations to host a conference on Libya by early 2020. Observers hope that international players could exert enough pressure to stop the fighting.

But others worry that Haftar’s appetite for territory and power might prove too large. Former GNA defense minister Mahdi Al-Barghathi, who left in the government in July, says the only way toward peace is for Haftar to be left with no powerful friends, and no other options. Otherwise, Al-Barghathi said Haftar will be set to become another Qaddafi.