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Reports: Up to 35 Russian Mercenaries Killed in Libya

Jamie Dettmer

   MOSCOW - As many as 35 Russian mercenaries are reported to have been
   killed in Libya while they were fighting for Khalifa Haftar, the
   military general most associated with the rule of the late leader
   Muammar Gaddafi, who launched an offensive earlier this year on the
   Libyan capital of Tripoli, home to the country's
   internationally-recognized government, according to a Russian media.

   The mercenaries are thought to work for the Wagner Group, a military
   contractor run by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a businessman nicknamed Putin's
   Chef because he holds lucrative Kremlin catering contracts.

   Asked by VOA about the reports of the fatalities in an airstrike on the
   outskirts of Tripoli, where Haftar's forces have been bogged down for
   months, Maria Zakharova, the Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman, said
   she had "no detailed information" and suggested directing questions to
   Russia's defense ministry.

   The spokeswoman later dismissed any notion the mercenaries are
   Kremlin-linked, saying there's little Russia can legally do to prevent
   "private Russian citizens from acting as bodyguards overseas." She
   added, "If Russian citizens get into trouble, our diplomatic missions
   can provide support for them."

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