Nicholas Soames, a Member of the House of Lords of the United Kingdom and former UK Minister of State for the Armed Forces, has asked – in article published on The Telegraph – Western countries to pay close attention to the movements of Russian President Vladimir Putin in Libya in particular and Africa in general.
Soames said the friendship between Putin and whom he called “warlord” Khalifa Haftar enabled him to send mercenaries to Libya and then outside of it, opening the door for talks about establishing Russian nuclear submarines’ base in Tobruk port.
“Of course this step would turn the Mediterranean into a battlefield for new war by Western Europe.” Soames said.
He also said he understood the fact that the West had been distracted from what was going on in Libya because of Ukraine, adding that the underlying danger of such a distraction from Russia’s influence in Libya and Africa “is obvious.”
