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29 March 2024

Libya holding 22 Ukrainian 'oil workers'

Published
By AFP

Ukraine on Monday said that Libya's new rulers are detaining 22 of its citizens who had been working in the oil sector, reportedly on suspicion they were snipers for fallen leader Moammer Gaddafi.

"Unfortunately, we must confirm that 23 Ukrainian citizens were detained in Libya," said foreign ministry spokesman Oleg Voloshyn. He described those detained as "civilian specialists" working in the oil sector as engineers.

He told a briefing that one of the workers had already been released, leaving 22 currently under arrest, and efforts to secure their release were continuing.

Reports said that the Ukrainians had been held on suspicion of acting as snipers for Gaddafi's regime against the rebels who have now gained control of the majority of the country.

Voloshyn said that the Ukrainians had not been charged in any way and there was currently no threat to their health.

Three of those detained were shown in a report by Russian television from Tripoli earlier rubbishing the claims that they could have been working as snipers for Gaddafi.

"Look at us. How could we have been snipers? We are just old men and women," said one of those detained, Maxim Shadrov. "We would be scared if we had something to fear. But we have clean conscience, a clean heart and clean hands."

Ukraine had close economic links with the deposed regime and when the conflict between Gaddafi and the rebels erupted in mid-February it had 1,500 citizens in the country, according to official estimates.

Among these were mainly medical personnel, most notoriously including women working as personal nurses for Gaddafi himself.

Ukraine on Thursday recognised the National Transitional Council (NTC) who ousted Kadhafi as the legitimate rulers of Libya, hours after its neighbour Russia made the same move.