Reporters for the Rosbalt news service have published a sensational article. It said that the mercenaries of Wagner Group, which Western media often describe as a Russian paramilitary organization, support the so-called Government of National Accord (GNA) of Libya, controlled by Fayez al-Sarraj, Prime Minister of Libya.
According to Rosbalt, it has revealed the truth about the Wagner Group. It published the article with comments by Pavel Felgenhauer, a military analyst who is also an expert for the Novaya Gazeta daily and a columnist of the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The article describes the sensational news that the Wagner Group is fighting on the side of the GNA while Turkey, apparently, supports Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, the commander of the Tobruk-based Libyan National Army.
On June 11, Rosbalt published an article by reporter Alexander Zhelenin entitled “Kremlin Eager to Get Rid of Haftar.” Zhelenin interviewed Felgenhauer, an independent analyst of the opposition media. From their dialogue, it is clear that there are the Russians from the Wagner Group in Libya, but they are not fighting on the side of the Libyan National Army (LNA) or the Eastern government of the country.
With reference to Felgenhauer’s comments, Zhelenin says that the Russian combatants took the side of Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, the leader of the so-called GNA.
Western and Russian media have said on a number of occasions that there are the Wagner Group’s troops in Libya, and, allegedly, they support Haftar's LNA. These claims, however, are but one big mistake. The Wagner Group does not make a secret that it openly supports al-Sarraj. So, all the information about the presence of the Russian militants on the Libyan territory is sheer multiplication of false news.