48 Libyan lawmakers deny parliament requested Russian intervention

TRIPOLI, Libya

Forty-eight members of the Libyan House of Representatives (HoR) issued a statement Tuesday denying remarks by Russia’s foreign minister that Russian intervention in Libya came at the request of the HoR.

The statement came in response to comments by Sergey Lavrov during a press conference Saturday in New York in which he noted that "the presence of foreign forces in eastern Libya was made at the request of the Libyan House of Representatives."

The deputies said in the statement that they "categorically deny what was said in his statements and that we did not ask, as MPs, [for] the intervention of the Russians, nor did we ask for the assistance of any foreign forces, neither directly nor indirectly."

"We did not discuss this under the dome of Parliament, and we did not vote on it," the statement added.

The deputies demanded "all foreign forces to leave Libyan territory immediately and unconditionally," according to the statement.

The official number of deputies in parliament is 200, but some of them died or resigned, while around 130 deputies attend the sessions.

Libya is suffering from the repercussions of an armed conflict that has lasted for years. With the support of Arab and Western countries, mercenaries and foreign fighters, the militia of renegade General Khalifa Haftar fought the former internationally recognized Government of National Accord.

Haftar's militia has used mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner Group, which is based in the cities of Sirte and Al-Jufra.

*Writing by Mahmoud Barakat