Russian Lawmaker Ridicules US Africom's Claim Of Moscow Supplying Military Jets To Libya

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 28th May, 2020) The US army Africa Command's (AFRICOM) assumption that Russia supplies MiG-29 fighter jets to the civil conflict-torn Libya is nonsensical, Viktor Bondarev, the head of the Russian upper house's Defense and Security Committee, said on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, AFRICOM Commander Stephen Townsend released a statement in which he accused Russia of sending camouflaged military jets to fighters in Libya. According to the statement, MiG-19 jets depart from Russia with Russian national insignia on them, then land in Syria for refueling and get recolored so that the insignia is gone, and then head to Libya disguised as neutral aircraft.

"AFRICOM Commander's statement about Russian supplies of MiG-29 jets is rather some sort of nonsense. Undoubtedly, MiG-29 is one of the best front-line fighter jets designed by the Soviet aircraft industry. It is easy to fly, unpretentious in operation and very reliable.

But to say that a bunch of MiG-29s are enough to seize the Libyan coast is absurdity," Bondarev told reporters.

The senior lawmaker pointed to the fact that Soviet-made MiG-29 have been sold to countries worldwide by the Soviet Union way before its collapse, with Libya being no exception, same way as the United States has been selling its F-16 fighters for many years.

"Libya is not the only country in Africa to have these [MiG-29] jets. By the way, Syria has them, too, and they worked well in targeting terrorists on the ground. So if there are jets in Libya, they are Soviet, not Russian," Bondarev said, adding "but when I see Turkish, Israeli or Italian F-16s in the sky, I would never call them US air force jets."

Russia has a commitment to not supply weapons to any of the Libyan warring parties as part of a collective arms embargo negotiated by the participants of the Berlin Conference in January.