Russian mercenaries leave western Libya
More than one and a half thousand fighters of the Russian private military company Wagner have left western Libya, stated by Colonel Mohammad Kununu, a spokesman for the Libyan government forces, as cited by Turkey's Anadolu news agency.
According to him, earlier the Russian mercenaries were fighting on the side of Libyan National Army under the command of Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar against the Libyan government forces in the area of Tripoli. Some time ago up to 1.6 thousand of them left the war zone. They departed from Bani Walid Airport on two military transport planes. Kununu added that the new location of the Wagner fighters is not yet known.
Earlier, as Anadolu notes, Libyan government forces forced mercenaries to leave the Hamza, Yarmouk and Al-Savarih military bases in the Tripoli area, as well as the strategically important Al-Watiya Air Base in the west of the country, which for years served as a staging ground for airstrikes on Tripoli.
In 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russian private military companies, including Wagner, could operate wherever they want, if they do not violate Russian laws.