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Unofficial Libyan banknotes, some allegedly printed by Russia and others illicitly produced within Libya , have been exchanged for real dollars, contributing to the devaluation of the dinar. Unofficial banknotes used to fund infrastructure projects in the east and may finance Russian mercenary operations in Libya and the Sahel.
The Central Bank of Libya issued a statement earlier this year identifying four kinds of 50-dinar notes: those officially printed for the central bank, those printed in the past by Goznak for the eastern CBL branch under Hibri, and two new issuances that it labelled counterfeit.All parties involved, Tripoli-based Central Bank of Libya, the Libyan National Army, and Russia’s state money printer, Goznak, did not give an immediate response to a written request for comment.
Libya has been divided between warring eastern and western factions since 2014. Despite a 2020 truce and ongoing efforts to formally reunify institutions, a political solution remains elusive, with new outbreaks of conflict constantly looming. In June, the U.S. State Department sanctioned Goznak for printing more than USD 1 billion in counterfeit Libyan currency, without specifying where or when the notes were printed or delivered. In 2020, Russia denied U.S. claims that USD 1 billion in Libyan banknotes seized in Malta were counterfeit.
Russia had supplied eastern authorities with an estimated 12 billion Russian-made dinars from 2015 until a 2020 ceasefire, aiding allied eastern commander Khalifa Haftar and the government he supported in Benghazi. The provision of new banknotes this year had not been previously disclosed.
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The diplomatic source said it was “a major concern” that the Russians were printing dinars being converted on the black market into hard currency and used to pay for Wagner-related debts or for the Afrika Korps, the name of the Russian military presence in Africa that succeeded the Wagner group following the death of its founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, in 2023.
The fake bank notes fueled inflation, drove down the value of the dinar, and undermined the official currency supplied by the central bank in Tripoli .
