The video, in which a man says in Russian that his MiG-29 fighter was shot down, is untrue, said General Khalid Mahjub, head of the Libyan National Army's (LNA) moral orientation department. His comment is quoted by Scud News citing Sputnik.
According to Mahjub, the publication of this video is an attempt to accuse the LNA of escalating armed activities. He explained that the army under the command of Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar was only reacting to the actions of the enemy, since “it was restless at the front for some time.”
On September 7, a video filmed by a Russian-speaking man appeared on the Fighterbomber YouTube channel. The author of the video claims that his MiG-29 was shot down, and he himself allegedly managed to eject and was almost not injured. At the end of the recording, you can see how a Mi-24 helicopter flies up to the pilot, which, as noted on the network, gives out with its characteristic color the country of presence – Libya. The user who posted the footage later denied this information in his Instagram account.
According to the report of the UN sanctions oversight committee of experts, in May of this year, Wagner's Russian private military company (PMC) transferred 800 to 1200 fighters, uniforms and two armored personnel carriers to Libya to support the LNA.
In addition, the UN and the Pentagon announced the supply of MiG-29 fighters to Libya by Moscow. In May, the African Command of the American Armed Forces claimed that the planes were first transferred from Russian territory to Syria, where they were repainted to hide their Russian origin. After that, they moved to Africa. As evidence, the Pentagon published satellite images of military equipment in Libya.
The Haftar army called this information strange, noting that Washington is not talking about “Turkey's intervention and expansion in our country, about the transfer of tens of thousands of Turkish mercenaries.”
In Libya, the confrontation continues between the Government of National Accord (GNA) Faiz Sarraj, which controls Tripoli and the territories in the west of the country and is supported by Turkey, and the Libyan National Army under the command of Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, supported by Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Its unofficial allies are France and the United Arab Emirates – the latter, according to some sources, supplied the army with equipment, including equipment purchased from Russia.
