Putin meets with Khalifa Haftar, the dictator of Libya

According to the Kremlin, they spoke about the situation in Libya and the surrounding area.

Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, the leader of the Libyan National Army (LNA), met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Thursday.

We do, in fact, confirm this encounter. In fact, it happened in the Kremlin today. The situation in Libya and the entire region was discussed, according to Peskov.

According to LNA officials, during his conversation with the Russian leader, Haftar discussed “bilateral relations between the two countries, ways of strengthening and developing them, as well as issues of mutual interest.”

On Tuesday, when the Libyan commander arrived in Russia for an official visit, he was welcomed by Colonel General Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, the deputy minister of defence of Russia.

On August 22, a delegation from the Russian Defence Ministry made their first trip to Libya. Yevkurov and Haftar intended to talk about the possibility for cooperation in the fight against international terrorism as well as other matters of mutual interest, according to the department’s press staff.

Arrival of US Africa Command chief in Tripoli
On September 17, Yevkurov visited Derna, a city that had been severely flooded, before heading to Benghazi to meet with Haftar.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah of the Libyan Government of National Unity met with US Africa Command Commander Michael Langley in Tripoli. Just six days after Yevkurov’s journey to Derna and Benghazi, he made his way to Libya to meet with Khalifa Haftar. According to the Wall Street Journal, Langley wanted to talk about Russia’s expanding influence in the area.