The head of the LUKoil Overseas Libyan office, who was detained in Tripoli last November, has been released and is back in Moscow, a source at the Russian embassy in Libya said on Thursday according to RIA Novosti.
"[Alexander] Tsygankov has been released and is now in Moscow," the source said, adding that the official had arrived on the same flight as Libyan Prime Minister al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmudi, who begins an official visit to Russia on Thursday.
Dmitry Dolgov, a LUKoil official, has also confirmed Tsygankov's return to Moscow.
Although the Russian media said Tsygankov's arrest was connected to commercial espionage ahead of a December 9 tender for a dozen gas fields in Libya, no official charges were ever brought against him.
Russian gas monopoly Gazprom [RTS: GAZP] was eventually declared the winner of the December 9 tender.
Libya holds Africa's fourth largest gas reserves, estimated at 1.49 trillion cubic meters.