A tablet left by a fighter for the Kremlin-linked mercenaries known as the Wagner Group, reveals its key role, including links to war crimes such as killing civilians, placing landmines and booby-trapping civilian areas, the British public broadcaster reported on its website.
It said the BBC has a "shopping list" for state-of-the-art military equipment that expert witnesses say could only have come from Russian army supplies.
The Wagner Group was first identified in 2014 when it was backing pro-Russian separatists in the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Since then, it has been involved in regions including Syria, Mozambique, Sudan, and the Central African Republic, according to the BBC.
The Russian mercenaries appeared in Libya in April 2019 when they joined the forces of a rebel general, Khalifa Haftar, after he launched an attack on the UN-backed government in the capital Tripoli, the BBC reported.
It noted that Libya's civil war ended in a ceasefire in October and that Russia has denied any links to the Wagner Group.
According to a 2019 report by the New York Times, Russian mercenaries fighting in Libya, among them skilled snipers, were part of a campaign by the Kremlin to reassert its influence across the Middle East and Africa.
According to the Reuters news agency, the so-called Wagner Group is formed by private military contractors who carry out secret missions for Russia.
(gs)
Source: bbc.com