Oil conflict has turned Libya into a “US-Russian” front of influence. This is what the Wall Street Journal mentioned in a report highlighting the move of the “Wagner Group” that accuses Russia of sending it to Libya to secure the largest oil field and the most important port for oil export: the port of Es Sider.
The newspaper cited US officials as saying that the US State Department had informed the commander of the National Army, Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, that he might face sanctions if the oil installations continued to be closed.
The report recalled the strongly worded statement issued by the US embassy in Libya on July 12 in which it said that “those who undermine the Libyan economy and cling to military escalation will face isolation and risk of sanctions”, without specifying those parties.
The “Wall Street Journal” indicates that the Wagner Group’s move towards oil fields reflected a clear Russian challenge to US pressure to reopen oil fields in Libya, and the response came after that by direct warning from the US embassy to Moscow’s ally in Libya.
