MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th July, 2020) Claims about the presence of Russian mercenaries in Libya are groundless, and all the accusations against the country are not substantiated with any proof, Russia's charge d'affaires ad interim in the North African country, Jamshed Boltaev, told Sputnik in an interview.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stressed that the country does not support mercenary activities, Boltaev noted. According to the diplomat, if there are any Russian citizens acting in Libya and getting paid for this, this means they have "taken some steps on their own initiative" and act "in violation of the Russian legislation."
"Accusations against Russia as a country are baseless. I want to stress once again that claims about Russian mercenaries' presence in Libya are not substantiated with any evidence. There are no facts, only groundless accusations. This information is not true," Boltaev said.
"The Russian criminal code contains an article envisioning criminal punishment for mercenary activities," the diplomat recalled.
Boltaev stressed that a contract fighter is not a representative of a country, but just "an individual who can be hired by another individual for some military or armed operations."
