(Bloomberg) -- Democratic Senator Chris Murphy is pressing Secretary of State Michael Pompeo on whether the U.S. should sanction a Libyan military leader for doing business with a Russian paramilitary organization known as the Wagner Group.
“Russia’s direct military involvement is a game-changing dynamic in the Libyan conflict, with the potential to significantly undermine American interests,” Murphy, of Connecticut, wrote in a letter to Pompeo dated Wednesday. “I request a comprehensive summary of our diplomatic efforts to counter Russian influence in Libya and a detailed analysis, in classified or unclassified form, on the relationship between Khalifa Haftar and PMC Wagner.”
Haftar’s Libyan National Army controls the oil-rich east and south of the country and has been advancing on Tripoli. The Wagner Group is a Russian military contractor that was added in September 2018 to a State Department list of companies associated with the Russian government and military.
Murphy asked Pompeo whether the association between Haftar and the Russian organization would trigger mandatory sanctions under a 2017 law -- Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act -- that was designed in part to deter Russian military aggression.
“According to recent reports, more than one thousand Russian soldiers employed by PMC Wagner are now present in Libya, providing Haftar with logistical support and artillery as well as operating military drones,” Murphy wrote, noting that the reputed owner of the company -- Yevgeny Prigozhin -- was photographed with Russian defense officials during a meeting with Haftar last year.
The letter comes as the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hears from State Department Officials David Schenker and Christopher Robinson about U.S. policy in Libya.
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