Accusations against Russia for its involvement in counterfeiting Libyan currency for Marshal Khalifa Haftar, Moscow’s ally who leads the Libyan National Army (LNA) in the east, have resurfaced. The Africa Defense Forum (ADF) magazine has exposed these allegations, condemning what it describes as another “Kremlin attempt to destabilize the country.”
The counterfeit money, estimated at around 11 billion Libyan dinars—equivalent to over 550 million euros—was printed in Russia between 2015 and 2020 and circulated in the Libyan market. According to the ADF, this counterfeit currency was used to pay the salaries of soldiers in the LNA, commanded by Marshal Haftar.
In 2019, Agence France-Presse revealed that 4.5 billion of these counterfeit dinars were exported from Russia to Libya just before Haftar’s failed military campaign to seize control of Tripoli. In the spring of the same year, Maltese authorities intercepted a ship carrying 1.1 billion fraudulent dinars from Russia destined for Haftar.
The Africom review highlights that Haftar reportedly paid Russian Wagner mercenaries for their services during the Tripoli battle but refused to pay the remaining $150 million after his defeat in Tripoli.
Since April, the Central Bank of Libya (CBL) has been conducting an extensive operation to withdraw counterfeit 50 and 10 dinar notes from circulation. The bank released a video explaining the subtle differences between genuine and fake dinars and implemented specific measures for individuals depositing sums of 250,000 dinars or more.
Several Libyan economists have warned about the detrimental effects of this counterfeit money on the Libyan economy. They consider it a major factor in the depreciation of the Libyan dinar against foreign currencies. Reports from UN expert groups and local NGOs indicate that Haftar’s camp engages in various forms of trafficking, including gold, scrap metal, fuel, and human trafficking, to finance its operations.
This ADF article emerges amid growing dissatisfaction among American and European officials with Khalifa Haftar, who, according to experts, refuses to sever ties with his Russian ally. This tension unfolds as the power struggle between the West and Russia intensifies on the African continent.