Russian PMCs “Wagner” recruiting mercenaries for the participation in the war in Libya – media

Associated with the Russian authorities private military company “Wagner” recruiting Syrian citizens to participate in the war in Libya, writes the German newspaper Bild with reference to the relatives recruited by the Syrians.

According to the publication, the PMC “Wagner” conducting “an unprecedented recruitment campaign” in the South and East of Syria. Recruitment also engaged representatives of the “officers of the military secret service of the regime of [Syrian President Bashar] Assad,” as well as local authorities controlled by the Assad territory.

In the future, the mercenaries are trained, they are then trafficked from the Russian air base Hamim in Latakia province on the territory of Libya, where they participate in hostilities on the side of the General of Caliph Haftarot, commander of the military forces of the so-called tobrucka government of Libya, unrecognized by the international community.

One of the relatives of enlisted men told the publication that the mercenaries promised a salary of $1 thousand per month, as well as compensation of $25 thousand to $50 thousand in case of injury or death.

As noted by Bild, the recruitment of mercenaries “Russia openly violates all the declarations of the UN embargo on arms supplies to Libya and the final Declaration of the conference in Berlin January 19, 2020,” which calls to refrain from military action in Libya.

About sending Russian mercenaries to Libya on 5 November 2019 wrote the American newspaper The New York Times. According to the newspaper, Russia for six weeks in Libya sent 200 mercenaries, some of whom are snipers. They were on the side of the Haftarot.

In February 2020, the President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Russia controls the conflict in Libya “at the highest level.”

After the overthrow in 2011 of the regime of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi the country has formed a new government, however, in 2014 it split and in Libya, fighting broke out between the two administrations. One of them – the internationally recognized government of national unity (GNU), which controls Tripoli, the second – “tobrucka the government,” the armed forces which is commanded by Haftar.

5 April 2019 the Haftarot forces took control of the former Tripoli international airport near the capital of the country. The UN Security Council called on the Haftarot to immediately stop the offensive on Tripoli. 6 APR military aviation, the GNU launched air strikes on busy yesterday afterbecame areas.

The military Prosecutor of Libya has issued a warrant for the arrest of the Haftarot.

28 April 2019 power, controlled by the internationally recognized government of national unity of Libya managed to oust the army of Haftarot from the southern areas of the city.