Russia recently sent fighter jets to Libya to support Russian mercenaries fighting for strongman Khalifa Haftar in the long-running conflict, the US military said on Tuesday.
The warplanes left Russia and first stopped in Syria, where they “were repainted to camouflage their Russian origin” before arriving in Libya, said the US military command for Africa (Africom) in a statement.
Stuttgart-based Africom did not specify when the jets flew in, saying only that it was “recently”.
But it appeared to be the latest violation of the nine-year-old UN embargo on sending arms into Libya.
In Washington, Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said that the Russians had sent a mix of “approximately 14 military fighters.”
Africom posted pictures of the Russian aircraft on its Twitter feed, including one that it said showed several MiG-29 Fulcrum jets and Su-35 Flankers parked at an airbase.
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Source: Vanguard Newspaper
