Libyan gov't doubts Russia's turnaround stance
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The Libyan government doubts Russia will change its stance on Libya's situation and side with NATO, Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim said Friday.
Earlier in the day, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said at a Group of Eight (G8) summit in Deauville, France, that Russia could act as a mediator to solve Libya's domestic crisis, but Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has no right to lead the country any longer.
The two-day summit ended with a unanimously-adopted declaration which said "Gaddafi and the Libyan government have failed to fulfill their responsibility to protect the Libyan population and have lost all legitimacy."
"He (Gaddafi) must go," it stressed.
Disturbed by Russia's change of position, Kaim told a press conference in Tripoli that the Libyan government is in contact with the Russian side to make its position clear.
Russia has been critical of NATO-led airraids which started over two months ago, saying airstrikes go beyond the UN Security Council resolution which mandated a no-fly zone over the North African country.
"Russia is one of the traditional friends of Libya," Kaim said. "We don't think that Russia will sway its position to side with NATO."
But in Deauville, Medvedev said Russia would not offer shelter to the Libyan leader, and he had sent an envoy to the rebel bastion of Benghazi to seek solutions to the conflict.
Kaim said Libya's government is not concerned about the events at the G8 meeting. It only supports the proposals of the African Union (AU), and will never join discussions of plans that attempt to marginalize the AU's proposals, he said.
"Any decision taken about the political future of Libya belongs to the Libyans, no one else," Kaim said.
