The Russian Defence Ministry said on Tuesday, March 14 it did not have special forces in Egypt after U.S., Egyptian and diplomatic sources said it appeared to have deployed such forces to an Egyptian airbase, the Interfax news agency reported, according to Reuters.

The U.S. and diplomatic officials said any such Russian deployment might be part of a bid to support Libyan military commander Khalifa Haftar, who suffered a setback with an attack on March 3 by the Benghazi Defence Brigades (BDB) on oil ports controlled by his forces.

"There are no Russian special forces units in Sidi Barrani," Interfax cited Igor Konashenkov, the defense ministry's spokesman, as saying in a statement.