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Sophia Yan

@sophiayan.bsky.social
513 followers 223 following 67 posts

Telegraph Senior Foreign Correspondent | Marie Colvin Award Winner | Posts: 🌍🌏🌎🎹🎶🥃🍜🧘🏻‍♀️| Now: IST Then: TPE PEK HKG TYO NYC DCA HNL

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Reposted by Sophia Yan
Foreign Media Association @fma-turkey.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
The pending deportation from Turkey of French journalist Raphaël Boukandoura threatens to set a disturbing precedent for press freedom. Our full statement: fmaturkey.org/raphael-bouk...
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Reposted by Sophia Yan
dah1234.bsky.social @dah1234.bsky.social · 06/09/2025
Very interesting interview with Sophia Yan (Senior Foreign Correspondent of the Telegraph) on Friday's #Ukraine:TheLatest podcast (www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMI8...) about China's role in supplying Russia with dual-use technologies and materials.
youtube.com
Huge explosion at ‘vital’ Russia oil refinery | Ukraine: The Latest
YouTube video by The Telegraph
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Sophia Yan @sophiayan.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
A v late repost of a story I did 😬🤭
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Sophia Yan @sophiayan.bsky.social · 05/08/2025
That’s led to a host of issues for Obulqasim, incl forced deportation back to China, where he faces torture, imprisonment, potentially death. #Uyghurs severely persecuted in #China A look at China’s new front in its war against the Uyghurs #humanrights www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...
telegraph.co.uk
China’s passport trap: A new front in the global war on Uyghurs
Threat to chef living in Kyrgyzstan raises spectre of new sinister tactics to crack down on persecuted minority
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Sophia Yan @sophiayan.bsky.social · 05/08/2025
Obulqasim Isma’il, a #Uyghur, was given a new passport w the wrong name & DOB. The #Chinese embassy in Kyrgyzstan, where he lives with his family, refused to correct it www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...
telegraph.co.uk
China’s passport trap: A new front in the global war on Uyghurs
Threat to chef living in Kyrgyzstan raises spectre of new sinister tactics to crack down on persecuted minority
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Sophia Yan @sophiayan.bsky.social · 22/07/2025
'Consultants' charging #migrants $$$ to help fake their way into #Europe w fraudulent paperwork – fake CVs, fake job references, fake bank statements A scam of such breadth & depth to obtain real, approved visas My latest @telegraphnews.bsky.social investigation www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...
telegraph.co.uk
Revealed: Pakistani migrants tricking way into Britain with fake £50k visa documents
Paperwork approved by Home Office despite being littered with grammatical errors
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Sophia Yan @sophiayan.bsky.social · 27/06/2025
‘Obliterated,’ declares #Trump, ‘Nothing significant,’ says #Khamenei. Was the uranium spirited away first? Many questions... So how badly damaged is #Iran's #nuclear program? Insights @armscontrolwonk.bsky.social @ddolzikova.bsky.social Farzan Sabet www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...
telegraph.co.uk
How badly damaged is Iran’s nuclear programme? Here’s the evidence
‘Obliterated,’ declares Trump, ‘Nothing significant,’ says Khamenei. And was the uranium spirited away first? Questions need answering
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Sophia Yan @sophiayan.bsky.social · 27/06/2025
But if conflict continues, could be looking at a very serious migration crisis
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Sophia Yan @sophiayan.bsky.social · 27/06/2025
Impossible to predict the future. Plus so many variables So far only a small increase of crossings by Iranians was reported into neighbouring countries - ie Turkey, Armenia, Iraq. In southeastern Turkey, 50 to 100 more vehicles than normal were crossing – not a flood
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Sophia Yan @sophiayan.bsky.social · 27/06/2025
#Iran pop 92m GDP per capita higher than that of #Syria; more people in general, plus more people w financial means/family links abroad to #migrate So if the Syria scenario holds (just as a reference), we're looking at 23m Iranians fleeing abroad
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Sophia Yan @sophiayan.bsky.social · 27/06/2025
Very interesting analysis @mixedmigration.org on potential #migration impact from #Israel-#Iran war if ceasefire doesn't hold & conflict continues Take the scenario of #Syria. At peak of civil war, 1/4 of its 23m pop fled abroad; another 1/4 internally displaced (+thread)
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Reposted by Sophia Yan
NüVoices 女性之音 @nuvoices.bsky.social · 27/06/2025
🚨SPECIAL🎙️EPISODE: In this NüVoices Special episode, host and board member @sophiayan.bsky.social talks to Amanda Hsiao, director in Eurasia Group’s China practice, to look back on the first five months of Trump 2.0, and what we can learn from US-China relations: nuvoices.com/2025/06/25/n...
Portrait photo of Amanda Hsiao.
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Sophia Yan @sophiayan.bsky.social · 19/06/2025
ICYMI View from #Beirut where many feel avenged by #Iran’s retaliatory strikes against Israel, which has invaded #Lebanon 3x + attacked countless times (Am filing faster than I can post so please follow @telegraphnews.bsky.social for more) www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...
telegraph.co.uk
Watch: Lebanese dance and cheer under missiles heading for Israel
‘It’s payback’ – some see the attack as retribution for Israeli air strikes last year
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Sophia Yan @sophiayan.bsky.social · 19/06/2025
#Hezbollah supporters believe the militant group is ready to join the #war against #Israel once #Iran gives the order Even w less firepower + men, Hezbollah can still distract/tire out Israeli military Dispatch from Dahieh, a Hezb stronghold www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...
telegraph.co.uk
Hezbollah hurting, but its fighters are ready to join war on Israel
Air strike that took out military leader fuels supporters’ demands for retaliation to help Iran
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Sophia Yan @sophiayan.bsky.social · 16/06/2025
Why #Xi + #Putin - #Iran’s strongest strategic partners - are panicking right now 🤯🤬🤢 Analysis @telegraphnews.bsky.social Insights 🙏 @geringtuvia.bsky.social @nicolegrajewski.bsky.social www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...
telegraph.co.uk
Why Putin and Xi will be panicking over Iran
Russian and Chinese leaders in danger of losing a key partner in the fight against US hegemony in the region
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Sophia Yan @sophiayan.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
How #Europe's tight border enforcement & anti-smuggling policies are backfiring. Instead they're making smuggling gangs more powerful & putting refugees at even greater risk of exploitation, violence 2nd in a series from the Balkans, @telegraphnews.bsky.social www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...
telegraph.co.uk
Europe tried to crack down on people smugglers. It only made them stronger
Gangs in the Balkans are adapting to tighter border controls and ‘fighting over territory’
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Sophia Yan @sophiayan.bsky.social · 08/06/2025
This activity isn’t reflected in official data that indicates a drop in irregular #border crossings — simply because it’s going undetected by the authorities. Read/watch: www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2... #migration #smuggling #borders
telegraph.co.uk
EU says illegal migration has dropped, but I saw the reality on the ground
Along the Serbia-Hungary border, The Telegraph finds plenty willing to gamble for a better life
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Sophia Yan @sophiayan.bsky.social · 08/06/2025
Human smuggling has adapted quickly to #Europe’s tighter #border controls. Now, smugglers are moving smaller groups of people at a time and using encrypted apps to avoid surveillance. They even sometimes use coded language to talk about their ‘business.’ No wall is too high to tackle, so they say.
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Sophia Yan @sophiayan.bsky.social · 08/06/2025
Along the Serbia-EU border, we shadowed a group of #smugglers and #migrants preparing to cross — illicitly, and in secret.
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Sophia Yan @sophiayan.bsky.social · 08/06/2025
^^My first dispatch @telegraphnews.bsky.social in a series on human #smuggling through the Balkans telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202… More to come…
telegraph.co.uk
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Sophia Yan @sophiayan.bsky.social · 08/06/2025
Gone are the sprawling #refugee tent camps. Frontex touted a 78% drop in irregular #border crossings for 2024 on the Western Balkan route But human #smuggling is still in force — it’s just moved underground & therefore not reflected in the data www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2... #migration
telegraph.co.uk
EU says illegal migration has dropped, but I saw the reality on the ground
Along the Serbia-Hungary border, The Telegraph finds plenty willing to gamble for a better life
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Sophia Yan @sophiayan.bsky.social · 06/06/2025
#Chinese technology pioneered in East Turkistan (aka #Xinjiang) against the #Uyghurs… rolls out to #Turkey
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Reposted by Sophia Yan
Ylenia Gostoli @yleniagostoli.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
2/ Nearly 2,000 mostly young people were detained during the March protests against the arrest of #Istanbul's mayor, #Imamoglu. 819 are facing charges in 20 investigations - many arrested in dawn raids, held for weeks without trial. Often, their “crime” was just being present.
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Reposted by Sophia Yan
Ylenia Gostoli @yleniagostoli.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
4/ A Chinese-made Hikvision camera was spotted at a major Istanbul rally. It matches a model listed in a Turkish interior ministry document - capable of detecting 120 faces simultaneously.
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Reposted by Sophia Yan
Ylenia Gostoli @yleniagostoli.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
5/ In late 2024, Turkey's police bought 3,500 facial recognition cameras and 278 servers. In 2025, more contracts and tenders followed - including one for 13,000 new cameras, published just a day before the mayor’s arrest.
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Sophia Yan @sophiayan.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
Interesting
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Sophia Yan @sophiayan.bsky.social · 20/05/2025
Police watchdog blasts UK authorities for being too laser-focused on small boat crossings, leading to "missed opportunities" to respond to other routes that migrants are using as guided by #smugglers - ie via trucks, visa fraud www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...
telegraph.co.uk
Migrants sneak into UK in lorries while police ‘too focused on small boats’
Watchdog says chances are being missed to intercept illegal immigrants who take less high-profile routes
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Reposted by Sophia Yan
Border Violence Monitoring Network @borderviolence.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
Thank you to @sophiayan.bsky.social for featuring our newly released Criminalisation report for 2024 in this piece for @telegraphnews.bsky.social Read Sophia's report here: www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2... bsky.app/profile/bord...
telegraph.co.uk
Europe failing to smash people smuggling gangs
Under the guise of combating the ‘smuggling’ crisis, authorities have arrested migrants, journalists and advocates
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Sophia Yan @sophiayan.bsky.social · 03/05/2025
We went undercover & filmed covertly @telegraphnews.bsky.social to unveil how human #smugglers exploit legitimate networks to move illicit proceeds around the world - incl through the UK 💸🌎 My latest on a long-term investigation that spans Kabul to Birmingham www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/05...
telegraph.co.uk
Revealed: How people smuggling is arranged on the British high street
Money exchange shops are working directly with human smugglers to help them evade police
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Sophia Yan @sophiayan.bsky.social · 21/04/2025
Enjoyed reading the same essay:
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Sophia Yan @sophiayan.bsky.social · 21/04/2025
#Chinese firms openly selling “inflatable boats for #refugees” online & advertising them to smugglers. Over 3 mos @telegraphnews.bsky.social tracked English-language ads posted online by seven suppliers hawking “refugee boats." None taken down during that period www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...
telegraph.co.uk
Shameless Chinese firms advertise ‘inflatable boats for refugees’
Salespeople spoke openly about their products even when told they would be used to transport migrants
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Reposted by Sophia Yan
Uyghur Human Rights Project @uhrp.org · 17/04/2025
🆕 New UHRP research on dramatic 📈 increase in int'l hotels chains in the Uyghur region—by @peterirwin.bsky.social, @henrykszad.bsky.social, and Ben Carrdus. Major 🏨 chains all operating amidst atrocities. 📊 uhrp.org/report/it-does-matter-where-you-stay-international-hotel-chains-in-east-turkistan
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Sophia Yan @sophiayan.bsky.social · 21/04/2025
British chain IHG, which owns #InterContinental, Holiday Inn & other brands, is accused of violating sanctions by building hotels in #China’s Xinjiang where MPs hv said genocide is occurring against Muslim groups, incl #Uyghurs. cc @uyghurproject.bsky.social www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...
telegraph.co.uk
British hotel chain ‘violating sanctions’ in China
Report alleges IHG’s hotels in Xinjiang are participating in the ‘broader suppression’ of the Muslim Uyghur ethnic minority
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Sophia Yan @sophiayan.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
It's reflected in the data: 2024 was the deadliest yr on record for #Channel crossings w at least 80 deaths, incl an infant of four months, according to the UN’s #migration agency #immigration #migration #migrants #europe #openborders #middleeast #africa #southasia #borders #smuggling #trafficking
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Sophia Yan @sophiayan.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
Departing further down the French coast means migrants must travel a much longer distance across the Channel More risks --> more deaths, says Feyrouz Lajili @msf.ca
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Sophia Yan @sophiayan.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
The aim is to arrive in #UK, where many file for asylum, by crossing the Channel But people aren't always able to make it, as seen in the flurry of activity Feb 9 from people seeking assistance The next morning, 2 bodies were found on the sandy beaches of Berck www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/02...
telegraph.co.uk
What a single day of migrant distress calls tells us about evolving smuggling tactics
Analysis of distress calls reveals the dangerous cat and mouse game risking hundreds of lives
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Sophia Yan @sophiayan.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
Lastly, a dispatch from #Berck, a charming seaside town in northern #France We do a recon of distress calls made on Feb 9 by migrants to @Utopia_56's emergency line showing the growing stretch of coastline from which people set sail to evade detection
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Sophia Yan @sophiayan.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
FYI Some further reading on the #Uyghurs who fled #China: 1. Jan 2025: When fears of deportation were raised re: those in Thailand www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2... 2. Feb 2023: The great Uyghur escape www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...
telegraph.co.uk
‘I escaped China’s brutal regime... then my son was kidnapped and forced to join Isis’
Meet the Uyghurs who risked death to escape China illegally to start new lives abroad – and many who made it have horrifying stories to tell
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Sophia Yan @sophiayan.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
Despite #diplomatic pressure, human rights activists lobbying... #Thailand deports 40 #Uyghurs asylum seekers caught 10yrs ago while fleeing #China on a #smuggling route In China, they face torture, lengthy imprisonment, maybe death w/ @sneweyy.bsky.social www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...
telegraph.co.uk
‘This may be my last message’: Uyghurs stage hunger strike over China deportation
A group of 48 ethnic minority Muslims who fled Chinese persecution have been held in Thailand for almost 11 years
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Sophia Yan @sophiayan.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
Hello, #Friday! A thread on this week's stories from yours truly.... Meet the #Syrians who remain determined to seek refuge in the #UK, in #Europe, even though #asylum claims have been frozen after the #Assad regime fell in December www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...
telegraph.co.uk
Syrians still trying to cross Channel despite asylum claim freeze
Refugees say they ‘cannot start from scratch and change their dreams’ so continue to attempt treacherous journey to the UK
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Sophia Yan @sophiayan.bsky.social · 30/01/2025
'#Death boat' to #Europe... Only 11 migrants survived out of 80 after smugglers beat & killed them w hammers over an inter-gang payment dispute Exclusive feature w esteemed colleague Mohammad Zubair Khan in Islamabad for @telegraphnews.bsky.social www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...
telegraph.co.uk
The ‘death boat’ to Europe where migrants are bound and beaten with hammers
Survivors divulge harrowing details of a botched smuggling deal that went horribly wrong
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Reposted by Sophia Yan
Sarah Newey @sneweyy.bsky.social · 22/01/2025
Latest with @sophiayan.bsky.social: 48 Uyghurs detained in Thailand for nearly 11 years are on hunger strike to protest against imminent deportation to China, where they face imprisonment or execution. Full story: telegraph.co.uk/gift/10900fe...
telegraph.co.uk
‘This may be my last message’: Uyghurs stage hunger strike over China deportation
A group of 48 ethnic minority Muslims who fled Chinese persecution have been held in Thailand for nearly 11 years
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Reposted by Sophia Yan
Tuvia Gering 陶文亚 @geringtuvia.bsky.social · 30/12/2024
Explosive report from @sophiayan.bsky.social on China using shell companies to send $1B in drones to Libya, skirting a UN arms embargo for discounted oil. Makes you wonder what other providers of sanctioned crude, like Iran and Russia, receive in kind from China.
telegraph.co.uk
Inside China’s secret plan to send weapons disguised as Covid aid to warlord
Military tech worth £1bn would have been part-payment for discounted crude oil, emails sent by alleged conspirators in Canada reveal
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Sophia Yan @sophiayan.bsky.social · 26/12/2024
#China planned to send armed #drones worth $1 billion to #Libyan warlord using a UK-based shell company to skirt an international #weapons ban — under the guise of sending #coronavirus aid @telegraphnews.bsky.social can reveal One last scoop for 2024… Read on: www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...
telegraph.co.uk
Inside China’s secret plan to send weapons disguised as Covid aid to warlord
Military tech worth £1bn would have been part-payment for discounted crude oil, emails sent by alleged conspirators in Canada reveal
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Sophia Yan @sophiayan.bsky.social · 23/12/2024
Smuggler in #France’s #Calais offering ‘special #Xmas deals’ to get migrants across English channel “God willing, you will be in #England before the new year” says #smuggler who calls himself Salar to @telegraphnews.bsky.social reporter posing as #migrant www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...
telegraph.co.uk
Small boat smuggler offers ‘Christmas special’ deal to enter UK
Telegraph reporter posing as a migrant in Germany told: ‘God willing, you will be in England before the new year’
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Sophia Yan @sophiayan.bsky.social · 17/12/2024
What impact has @UN involvement + attention had on the #Uyghur #humanrights issue? We explore this in the latest issue of the Int’l Bar Assn’s Global Insight magazine #china #asia www.ibanet.org/Xinjiang-und...
ibanet.org
Xinjiang under scrutiny
Global Insight assesses how the UN, lawyers and the families of those affected are keeping the plight of the Uyghur community and others in Xinjiang under the spotlight.
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Sophia Yan @sophiayan.bsky.social · 17/12/2024
~6,500 #Syrian asylum seekers stranded in #UK after govt froze apps after Assad fall. Delays cost govt $$ to accom people etc. Experts warning #Syria poss not safe even 1yr from now &many apps ultimately approved anyway More @eirnolsoe.bsky.social www.telegraph.co.uk/business/202...
telegraph.co.uk
Syrian asylum seekers in hotels to cost Britain £11m a month
Pause in processing applicants’ claims risks dragging on amid region’s continued instability
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Sophia Yan @sophiayan.bsky.social · 16/12/2024
Jalel Harchaoui of RUSI weighs in
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Sophia Yan @sophiayan.bsky.social · 16/12/2024
Russia's Libya presence + its Syria positions created arc of power. While Russia definitely wants to hang onto all this military might, a new govt in Syria = new world, full of folks who remember being bombed to smithereens by the Russians... so an uncertain future ahead
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Sophia Yan @sophiayan.bsky.social · 16/12/2024
Russia this year has also rapidly built up its presence in Libya More on that here⤵️ www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...
telegraph.co.uk
Pictured: How Russia is expanding its military foothold in Africa
Telegraph analysis of air bases in Libya found military transport planes, upgraded runways, bolstered perimeter defences and new buildings
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