MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Last week, Reuters news agency reported that Russia deployed 22-member unit of special forces and several drones to an airbase in Egypt near the Libyan border, citing unnamed US and Egyptian military and diplomatic sources. The Russian and Egyptian defense ministries denied the reports.
"This is not true," Bogdanov said a week after media reports cited unnamed US and Egyptian military and diplomatic sources claiming that 22-member Russian special forces and several drones have been deployed to an Egyptian air base near Libya.
"We are in contact will all parts of the Libyan society in the west, east and south — with Aguila Saleh, the chairman of the Tobruk-based parliament, Khalifa Haftar, the commander of the Libyan army, as well as with many other forces. We hosted [Libyan Prime Minister] Fayez Sarraj," Bogdanov added.
Libya has been torn apart by internal conflict since 2011, when the civil war broke out culminating in the demise of longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi.
In December 2015, the United Nations brokered the agreement to establish the Government of National Accord (GNA), which was meant to reconcile Libya’s rival governments — the Council of Deputies based in Tobruk and the Tripoli-based General National Congress. The GNA's Presidential Council was supposed to offer representation to members of Libya's conflicting groups, but the GNA has been struggling to make progress in truly uniting the country.
