Pete Ricketts Warns: ‘Russia’s Tentacles Continue To Expand’ In Libya

3 months ago

Last week, Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-NE) questioned pending nominees on Russia's influence in Africa during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing.

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00:00Thank you.

00:01Senator Ricketts.

00:02Great.

00:03Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

00:07And I want to add my thanks to Senator Cardin as well.

00:10As governor, I had a chance to take a number of trade missions around the world and meet

00:14with our embassies.

00:16And I just can't say enough about the foreign service people and, you know, sacrifice time

00:21away from your friends and family here in the United States to represent our country

00:25overseas.

00:26So I really appreciate the efforts that you all make to do that.

00:29I want to talk a little bit about Libya.

00:32Russia's tentacles continue to expand there in Libya.

00:36In September, Putin met with Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar to discuss a defense accord

00:42that would expand Moscow's military presence there and could eventually even lead to a

00:47naval base there.

00:50This year, despite the war in Ukraine raging on, Moscow has sent Russian special forces

00:55and thousands of mercenaries to the battlefield of – or from the battlefield to Libya.

01:01And additionally, we've seen Russian vessels unloading thousands of tons of military equipment

01:05in Tobruk, effectively turning eastern Libya into a Russian way station for places like

01:10Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso.

01:12And so far, our diplomatic strategy has been to engage Haftar, but he has repeatedly denied

01:17our request to cooperate with the UN on forming a unified government and holding nationwide

01:21elections.

01:22And of course, he just keeps increasingly moving into the Russian orbit.

01:27So Ms. Gavino, tell me a little bit, what's your take on Russia's expanding presence

01:31in eastern Libya?

01:32How concerned are you with that?

01:35What do you think the potential for establishing a naval base in – for Moscow is?

01:39I mean, that obviously would give Putin a foothold in the Mediterranean.

01:45Share with me what's your take on this.

01:48Thank you very much, Senator.

01:49You have touched on what I think is the biggest challenge facing Libya.

01:53Certainly, the lack of a unified government is also a great challenge, but it's exacerbated

01:59by Russia's deeply destabilizing impact there.

02:04As you note in a variety of different ways, Russia has made no secret of its intent to

02:09deepen its foothold in Libya.

02:11Through its arms trafficking through and to Libya, it is setting itself up to further

02:18destabilize the Sahel region as well as NATO's southern flank.

02:22And so it is deeply concerning.

02:26With regard to plans to push back on that, a couple of thoughts.

02:31First of all, the sanctions both on the Wagner Group as a transnational criminal – excuse

02:36me – transnational criminal organization in 2023, and yesterday's sanctions on GOSNAC

02:43for having printed a billion dollars in counterfeit bills, Libyan bills, to further destabilize

02:51the economy are two examples of ways that we can push back from here.

02:56Ultimately, though, Senator, it is critical that the United States be on the ground, that

03:02we have an opportunity to engage Libyans across the political spectrum, regardless of where

03:06they are, on two things.

03:08First of all, the dangers of allowing themselves to be further enmeshed in regional conflict.

03:15And second, on the opportunities that come from fulfilling their own Libyan-based goals

03:22of being in a position to reaffirm their sovereignty.

03:25Without taking too much time, Senator, I think that in order for the United States to effectively

03:32support and advance the UN's goals of unification of government, the reality is that we have

03:40to engage all political actors across the political spectrum, as they are all going

03:43to have to buy into a future unified government that puts itself in position to reassert Libyan

03:48sovereignty.

03:50So I'd like to also just address, what do you think the likelihood of a Russian naval

03:53base in Libya is?

03:56Senator, as you're aware, at this stage of the process, I'm not in a position to

04:00give you policy-classified information.

04:02That being said, certainly those plans are consistent with what we have – what the

04:08United States has seen from Russia with regard to deployment of military personnel and their

04:14stated desires to deepen the foothold.

04:19You mentioned Haftar's visit to Moscow, also notable that the deputy defense minister

04:24of Russia has visited Libya four times in the last year.

04:29So certainly, Senator, I would take those reports very seriously.

04:33So you mentioned we have to engage with all the political parties, Haftar – I assume

04:37that you mean Haftar as well.

04:39Again, if he's getting additional aid from Russia, Russia's clearly going to be trying

04:46to destabilize and foil our attempts to have a unified government.

04:49Is that fair?

04:50I think that's probably fair.

04:52So what is it that we can offer Haftar?

04:55What are the things we can do to have leverage to get Haftar to the negotiating table to

04:59try and get to a unified government and get to elections?

05:02Sure.

05:03There is no question that this is an extraordinarily difficult undertaking.

05:08And recognizing that, I would point back to the 2020 ceasefire agreement in which the

05:13Libyans themselves called for the expulsion of all foreign fighters and mercenary forces

05:18from Libya.

05:19Libyans themselves have in the past registered in record numbers for elections to be able

05:24to vote.

05:25Ultimately, Haftar is responsive, needs to be responsive to his own people.

05:32We need to, as the United States, lay out a framework that demonstrates the benefits

05:37that the Libyan people, frankly, have already put forward about the benefits of that reassertion

05:42of sovereignty, being able to protect their own borders, and more importantly, the economic

05:46benefits to all of them from a stable, secure, more free Libya that is able to respond to

05:54the needs of its people.

05:56So, Senator, it is an extraordinarily difficult undertaking.

05:58Certainly, the status quo has benefited a number of Libyan actors.

06:03But I believe that the United States has a different vision that the Libyan people themselves

06:08have bought into.

06:09Yeah, but, you know, but I am going to take a difference with what you said there.

06:14Haftar has to be responsive to the Libyan people.

06:17Dictators don't.

06:18They don't think like we do.

06:19They don't have to be responsive to their people.

06:21If he can get enough arms from Russia, he can just establish himself as a military dictator.

06:25And it's not like it's the first time that would happen in Libya, right?

06:28So I think there's other, we're going to have to obviously have, you know, assuming you

06:33confirm, we're going to have to have, I think, a deeper strategy about how we offset that

06:37malign Russian influence in Libya.

06:39I look forward to working with the committee.

06:40I couldn't agree with you more.

06:42It is a complicated situation that is going to take all of our efforts.

06:45Great.

06:46Thank you very much.

06:47Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

06:48Thanks, Senator Ricketts.

06:49Senator Young and I are going to start a second round of questions.

06:55Mr. Harris, Algeria has historically supported

Pete Ricketts Warns: ‘Russia’s Tentacles Continue To Expand’ In Libya

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