Putin Says He Hasn’t Sent Russian Mercenaries to Libya

(Bloomberg) -- President Vladimir Putin denied sending mercenaries to Libya, suggesting that any Russians involved in fighting to unseat the country’s UN-recognized government are there on their own.

“Even if there are any Russian citizens there, they don’t represent the interests of the Russian government,” Putin told reporters in Moscow on Saturday in his first comments on the matter. “And they don’t get money from the Russian government.”

The security chief of Libya’s UN-backed government said in December that Russian mercenaries spearheaded military commander Khalifa Haftar’s attack to capture Tripoli, the capital. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan alleged that mercenaries fighting in Libya include 2,000 from Wagner, a group headed by a Putin confidant.

Putin spoke as Russia and Turkey, which support opposite sides in Libya, attempt to broker a cease-fire in the North African country.

To contact the reporters on this story: Ilya Arkhipov in Moscow at iarkhipov@bloomberg.net;Anatoly Medetsky in Moscow at amedetsky@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lynn Thomasson at lthomasson@bloomberg.net, Tony Czuczka

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