On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the imposition of sanctions on a network linked to the Russian agent, “Yevgeny Prigozhin,” working to strengthen the Russian influence, which he described as “malicious” in a number of countries, including Libya.
The Russian businessman “Yevgeny Prigozhin,” known as “Putin’s chef,” was involved in bringing the “Wagner” mercenaries to Libya, and fighting alongside Haftar’s militias, as American sources confirmed that the number of Russian mercenaries in Libya exceeded two thousand mercenaries, present in the ports of Ras Lanuf and Sidra And the city of Sirte and Al Jufra.
In June, the US Congress issued a bill against the Russian agent “Yevgeny Prigozhin” and his affiliated companies, including the Wagner, as posing a threat to the interests and national security of the United States and its allies.
The US State Department’s announcement coincided with the fall of a helicopter carrying a group of “Wagner” mercenaries near the city of Sukna.
A spokesman for the Sirte Al-Jufra Operations Room confirmed that a helicopter carrying a number of Russian soldiers had fallen near Al-Jufra Air Base.
Last May, the United States commended the Maltese authorities for confiscating $ 1.1 billion of the counterfeit Libyan currency printed by the Russian state-owned company, Goznac.
At the time, the US State Department confirmed that the influx of counterfeit and printed Libyan currency in Russia in recent years had led to “an exacerbation of the economic situation in Libya,” stressing the need for Russia to stop its “malicious and destabilizing actions in Libya.”
