Kremlin dismisses report on Wagner plan to give Hezbollah air defence system

FILE PHOTO: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a joint news conference of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in Moscow, Russia February 18, 2022. Sputnik/Sergey Guneev/Kremlin via REUTERS/File photo

MOSCOW (Reuters) -The Kremlin on Friday dismissed a Wall Street Journal report that U.S. intelligence believed Russia's Wagner mercenary group plans to provide Hezbollah with an air defence system, saying such talk was unfounded.

"We have already said that, de-facto, such a group (Wagner) does not exist," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, when asked about the report, which cited unidentified U.S. officials as saying that U.S. intelligence thinks Wagner plans such a transfer.