Founder of Wagner Group blames international community for Libya’s woes

Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Russian private military company Wagner, has accused the international community for Libya’s problems for trying to take money from the country, reports say.

Speaking to Sputnik, Prigozhin also indicated that western states don’t help Libya for free and this is clear in the fact that top European officials and international organizations are plundering billions of dollars in oil and putting them in their pockets.

The oil-rich African country has been struggling politically since 2011 after the NATO-backed removal and assassination of former leader Muammar Gaddafi.

The country missed the opportunity to conduct presidential elections slated for Dec. 24 and expected to endow the country with a central government, for the first time  since the fall of Gaddafi.

Prigozhin, a close ally of Russian President Vladmir Putin, also indicated that elections in Libya have been canceled because international actors, especially the United Nations, are always changing the rules of the game, adding that Libyans want stability and this necessitates tough personalities; referring to Khalifa Haftar, Fathi Bashagha and Aqila Saleh, whom he believed, after their meeting in Benghazi, would control the political process.

Wagner, is accused of collaborating with Haftar, the east-based warlord and presidential candidate. The firm reportedly has thousands of fighters in Haftar-controlled areas.

The European Unions has slapped sanctions on the company, and three firms affiliated with it and eight persons.