Wagner has already crashed two Russian fighter jets in Libya, AFRICOM says
Russian regular forces are likely present in Libya, AFRICOM's intelligence director said
Two Russian fighter jets have crashed in Libya since being deployed to country’s civil war on the side of Gen. Khalifa Hifter earlier this year, a senior US military official said today.
The US Africa Command believes more than a dozen Russian aircraft, first reported to have been deployed to Libya in May, are being flown by Wagner paramilitary pilots.
It is not clear whether the two MiG-29s were shot down, suffered mechanical failure or crashed because of pilot error, Rear Adm. Heidi Berg, director of intelligence for US Africa Command, told reporters by phone today. The first MiG crashed June 28, the other on Monday.
A video circulated on social media earlier this week in which a Russian-speaking pilot appeared to have landed in the desert with a parachute before being rescued by a Hind helicopter, which was painted in camouflage resembling that used by the Libyan National Army.
