Libyan Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar recently traveled to Moscow for meetings with Russian military officials. One official meeting was attended by businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Yevgeny Prigozhin is a Russian millionaire often dubbed “Putin’s Chef” due to his catering company’s ties to Kremlin. Prigozhin oversees the Wagner Group, which a euphemistic name for a private company of Russian mercenaries that have deployed in key conflicts of Russian interest from Ukraine to Syria. The oligarch also allegedly financed and oversaw the Internet Research Agency, also known as the IRA or “St. Petersburg Troll Factory”, which produced disinformation across Russia, Europe, and the United States. A criminal indictment was filed in the United States by Special Counsel Robert Mueller against Prigozhin for financing influence operations targeting the 2016 U.S. presidential elections.

Even with all of his extra-curricular activity away from catering business, Prigozhin appeared to have an interest in Libya as well. Russia reportedly already has a foothold in Libya, including two military bases and an undisclosed number of mercenaries, but open source data to prove it is currently scarce.

The Meeting

On November 7, 2018, Russia’s defense minister Sergei Shoigu together with other high-ranking Russian generals met with Khalifa Haftar, commander of his self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA). The official purpose of the meeting was to discuss the ongoing armed crisis in Libya and the security situation in the region, but the meeting likely had a more specific agenda, which explains Prigozhin’s attendance. Prigozhin does not serve the Russian government in an official capacity, and his presence at the meeting was not reported by the Russian Ministry of Defense.

Despite the fact that the Kremlin denied taking an active part in the Libyan conflict, Prigozhin’s presence in the meeting suggested Wagner mercenaries’ involvement in the region.

Video Analysis

On November 7, Libyan Ministry of Defense published a video on its official YouTube channel, presenting excerpts of the meeting with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov, Chief of Staff of Russia’s Armed Forces. Prigozhin’s presence in the meeting was quoted by various media outlets and Twitter users, which were further confirmed by visual analysis of the video.