"Democratic" lawlessness in the former Libya - an attack on the Russian Embassy. Where do they go next? In hell! Attack on Libya's pro-Russian position

During the attack on the Russian embassy in Tripoli, one of the Libyans who attacked the building was killed and four more were wounded. None of the diplomatic mission employees were injured. According to some reports, the attack on the embassy was provoked by a woman, a citizen of either Russia or Ukraine, who killed a Libyan officer the day before. Correspondent Sergei Gololobov has details of the incident.

Video in in social networks: a group of people near the embassy fence with a burning car in the background. These images were apparently filmed after the actual attackers had fled. And it’s just onlookers who take pictures. Information about what happened the night before in Tripoli varies somewhat. According to some sources, more than half a hundred people took part in the attack on the Russian embassy, ​​according to others - only 10, albeit armed with hand grenades and machine guns. First, they opened fire on a diplomatic vehicle parked in the parking lot, and then on the embassy itself. The attackers also tore down the Russian tricolor. The Libyan security service, as reported by its employee Adel al-Badnoni, arrived at the scene of the emergency very quickly. As soon as law enforcement officers arrived at the scene of the incident, the attackers tried to escape. However, five of them were wounded by Libyan special services. One of the attackers later died. As for the Russians, embassy workers, almost all of them, even before the incident, were evacuated to the local airport, where they waited out the attack. None of Russian citizens Fortunately, he was not injured, said Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich.

“The head of the interim government of Libya, Ali Zidan, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of this country, Mohamed Abdelaziz, visited the scene of the emergency tonight. According to local media, officials assessed the damage to the building of the diplomatic mission. In addition, Zidan expressed gratitude to citizens and security agencies for their help and the protection of the embassy. As for the reasons for the attack on the Russian diplomatic mission, there are still preliminary versions. The main one is that the attack was provoked by a certain native of the CIS, a supporter of the overthrown leader of Libya Muammar Gaddafi, who came to this country through the Tunisian border. The day before, she killed a local air force officer. Moreover, his mother was wounded and the walls of his house were covered in blood. Accordingly, those who attacked the embassy came to avenge their pilot. However, it later turned out that this attacker was most likely a citizen of Ukraine, and the attackers allegedly confused the two embassies. countries, the police did not officially confirm this information, but emphasized that the incident was not connected with local terrorist groups.

Dozens of angry Libyans stormed the Russian embassy in Tripoli on Wednesday evening. One of the attackers was killed and four were wounded, Libyan authorities said. Is this a domestic murder, an al-Qaeda stunt, or an internal struggle for power? The reason for the assault was a murder committed with particular cruelty by an allegedly “Russian” woman, who wrote insulting inscriptions in defense of Muammar Gaddafi on the wall in the blood of the victims - her partner - an officer and his mother, an Associated Press correspondent reports.

Relatives and sympathizers of the victims thought that the victim had taken refuge in the embassy Russian Federation and came to demand her extradition. This is official version Libyan authorities.

According to various sources, from 10 to 60 people took part in the attack. They fired at several cars that were parked in front of the embassy, ​​then opened fire on the diplomatic mission building and tore down the Russian flag. The sounds of gunfire and grenade launchers were heard around the embassy, ​​an Al Arabiya correspondent reported. “An incident occurred in Tripoli, during which shelling was carried out and an attempt was made to enter the territory of the Russian embassy. “According to the most preliminary data that we receive, fortunately, there were no casualties among the diplomatic mission staff,” a Foreign Ministry spokesman said last night RF Alexander Lukashevich.

The head of the interim government of Libya, Ali Zidan, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of this country, Mohammed Abdelaziz, visited the Russian embassy literally immediately after the attack, the Libyan agency LANA reported. They assessed the damage, and Zidane "expressed his gratitude to the citizens and security authorities for their assistance... and protection of the embassy." In reality, there was no defense once the attackers entered the embassy premises. Russian diplomats were simply lucky that the attackers limited themselves to acts of vandalism.

This is not the first attack on the Russian embassy in Libya. In February 2012, a group of angry Syrians attacked the building to protest Russia's blocking of anti-Assad resolutions in the UN Security Council. Demonstrators raised above the residence Russian Ambassador the flag of the Syrian opposition and shouted anti-Russian slogans. It is logical to assume that this time the protest was political in nature, especially since some local bloggers wrote about it.

Pravda.Ru asked the scientific director of the Institute of Applied Oriental and African Studies, Said Gafurov, to comment on this possibility.

The expert confirmed the fact of the murder, but his sources report that the information about the “Russian woman” is unverified, it could be “Ukrainian and Serbian.” But the woman has been arrested and authorities are investigating, Gafurov said.

Regarding whether there is a political motive in this murder, Gafurov replied that there are forces that want to take advantage of this domestic murder. The expert has two versions. The first is al-Qaeda militants, “so that the whole world can talk about them.” The second is various clan groups in Libya itself, where there is a fierce war between various political forces. On the one hand - pro-Western, on the other - pro-Islamic. And within the latter, al-Qaeda is not very popular, Gafurov believes. “Most likely, this is a reflection of the internal political struggle, when someone is trying, say, to come forward with the slogan “Anti-Russian actions,” Gafurov said. “Especially since the current leadership of Libya has already begun to talk about reconciliation with Gaddafi’s supporters, about reconciliation with Russia , on providing Russia large quantity

contracts, especially where there is continuity of technology. Perhaps this is an attempt to influence the current government." “There is no need to lose vigilance, it’s just that embassies must be well guarded, we must understand that didn't end. However, this incident should not be given global significance,” the expert concluded.

Gafurov’s opinion that the Libyan authorities are beginning to look loyally at Russia is confirmed by the cancellation on August 14 by the country’s Supreme Military Court of the sentences of Russians Alexander Shadrov and Vladimir Dolgov, sentenced to life imprisonment and 10 years in prison, respectively, for “assisting the Gaddafi regime.” This is a great achievement of the Russian Foreign Ministry. The case of the Russians was transferred to a civilian (and not a military, as before) court, and the official status of the Russians was changed from “convicted” to “detained”. The Libyan Prosecutor General's Office must now decide whether to support the line of accusation put forward by the military or reclassify the case.

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The Libyan delegation seems to be calling for “understand and forgive” and return Russian diplomats in Tripoli. And all this against the backdrop of pressure from the American side on our Russian diplomatic missions, flags being torn down, etc.

So far, all embassy employees and members of their families have been safely transported to Tunisia, and from there they will return to Moscow on a special flight from the Ministry of Emergency Situations. The day before, the Russian embassy in Tripoli was attacked. The very fact of the storming of the diplomatic mission confirmed: a year after the monstrous attack on the US embassy, ​​Libya, defeated by the forces of the Western coalition, has not become any safer.

An eyewitness filmed the first minutes after the attack mobile phone- he did not remove the attack itself. It is known that the embassy was attacked by at least a dozen armed militants: they drove up in two cars and opened fire from machine guns at the building, at the windows, and at the cars parked at the entrance.

“These people had Kalashnikov assault rifles and hand grenades. They started shooting and then entered the embassy territory,” said eyewitness Asil Al-Ashter.

In fact, the bandits were not able to enter the embassy building itself - they only tore down the Russian flag at the entrance. The militants were forced to flee because they encountered serious resistance. And soon Libyan security services arrived at the scene.

The attackers are now being sought. According to one version, the attack was personal revenge for the murder of a Libyan Air Force officer in Tripoli.

Story . Allegedly, on the eve of the attack, a certain supposedly Russian woman, armed with a Kalashnikov assault rifle, burst into a private house and killed a colonel there who once opposed the Gaddafi regime.

Amateur fuzzy footage posted on social networks, according to the author, is filming from the murder scene. They say that after the murder of the officer, the woman wrote “Death to Rats” on the wall in English in blood, and then after a difficult battle with the police she was detained. But this is an unofficial version. At the same time, the woman’s nationality is still not known exactly: either Russian, or Ukrainian, or Serbian.

Officials confirmed that the embassy was attacked. A little later, the Libyan authorities admitted that they were unable to ensure the safety and security of the Russian diplomatic mission. As a result, our Foreign Ministry decided to immediately evacuate all employees.

It is unclear whether the security of our embassy fired back; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not comment on this topic at all, but it is quite likely. The fact is that Russian embassies in problematic countries from a security point of view, such as Iraq or Afghanistan, are always guarded in a special way. At the same time, no one has ever explained what kind of special service protects diplomats. But, nevertheless, in Iraq, next to our ambassador, you can often see strong men in paramilitary clothing.

Since the late nineties, information has circulated in the press that supposedly the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service has its own special forces called “Zaslon”, created to provide force support for intelligence operations. Due to the highly secret nature of the SVR’s activities, intelligence needed its own unit in order not to coordinate operations with other law enforcement agencies. True, no one has ever confirmed the existence of the Zaslon special forces group.

According to another, less conspiratorial version, the embassies are guarded by officers of some special forces - like the Alpha or Vympel groups. In any case, it is known for sure that when employees of the Soviet embassy were captured by radical Islamists in Lebanon in 1985, officers of the Alpha group who specially arrived in Beirut freed them.

As for Libya, even if the attack was not a terrorist attack, this generally quite clearly characterizes what is happening in the country.

In fact, this year in Libya there has already been an attack on the French embassy and an attempt on the life of the Italian consul. And a year ago the US Embassy was burned down in Benghazi. Then, at first, the authorities tried to explain everything as unrest during an anti-Western demonstration, and only later it became clear that this was a well-planned terrorist attack by radical Islamists.

Militants attacked the Russian embassy in the Libyan capital Tripoli. Al Arabiya reported the daring attack, citing its sources. No details are provided. There is no official confirmation or denial of this information. The Russian Foreign Ministry has not yet commented on the message.

It is worth noting that this is not the first time that the Russian diplomatic mission in Tripoli has been attacked. On February 5, 2012, an unauthorized rally under anti-Russian slogans took place in the capital of Libya in connection with the position taken by Moscow during the vote in the UN Security Council on Syria.

The protesters - several dozen people - climbed onto the roof of the embassy, ​​damaged surveillance cameras and tore down the Russian flag. None of the diplomatic mission employees were injured. Later, the Libyan authorities apologized and promised to investigate the incident, ITAR-TASS reports.

The attack on the embassy was linked to a Russian woman

Libyan law enforcement agencies have speculated about the reason for the shelling of the Russian embassy in Tripoli. According to them, the attack could have been carried out as a protest against the murder of a Libyan officer committed by a Russian citizen.

According to preliminary data, a Russian citizen who arrived in Libya through the Tunisian border shot and killed a Libyan officer in his home in the suburbs of Tripoli and also wounded his mother. The woman allegedly also wrote a message in blood on the walls, in which she spoke negatively about the uprising in Libya, which led to the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

The woman's motives are still unknown, and it is also unclear where she is. According to the American agency Associated Press, she may be taking refuge in the Russian embassy. “Most likely, the attackers thus expressed their protest against the murder of an aircraft mechanic of the Libyan army,” the Libyan Ministry of Internal Affairs reported.

Libyan security forces, who arrived at the Russian embassy in Tripoli when it was attacked by unknown assailants, opened fire indiscriminately, killing one of the attackers and wounding four more of them. According to the latest data, there were no casualties among the embassy staff or its guards.

In June, militants bombed a car belonging to the Italian embassy. The bomb was discovered thanks to the vigilance of the driver. He noticed an unusual noise and stopped the car. During an inspection of the car, an explosive device was discovered. Arriving security officers took the car to safe place and blew it up.

At the end of April this year, Islamists attacked the French embassy in Tripoli. Then a car was blown up near the building, two security guards were injured. The embassy building suffered significant damage, RBC reports.

In September 2012, armed men attacked the American diplomatic mission in Benghazi. As a result of the assault, the ambassador and three other US State Department employees were killed.