ROME, December 6. /TASS/. Allegations about Russian military presence in Libya are nothing else but rumors, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday commenting on remarks by US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Schenker.

Schenker had claimed earlier that Russian mercenaries were fighting for the Libyan National Army (LNA).

"As for the rumors spread by our American counterparts, [they] for some reason appear somehow around the world, elsewhere. If we speak about the Mediterranean, let us take Syria. How many are there service members from NATO countries’ armies who have not been invited there?" Lavrov said at the Mediterranean Dialogues international conference. "However, as soon as something happens somewhere, some sort of Bellingcat or any other non-governmental organization would provide materials that Russia is doing something wrong somewhere."

"I have read that a Russian spy nest was tracked up in France’s Savoie. Further in the text, they wrote that no spy activity was detected but it is all the same a spy nest," the minister added commenting on the Le Monde publication claiming that a group of 15 members of Russia’s military intelligence agency, the GRU, had stayed in the French department of Haute-Savoie.