A Russian presidential envoy for Africa, Mikhail Margelov, said he would go to Libya’s Benghazi on June 6 for talks with the Libyan opposition.
At a Group of Eight (G8) meeting in France last week, President Dmitry Medvedev said he expected Margelov, who also heads the foreign relations committee of the Russian upper house, to meet both with the Libyan opposition and authorities during his visit.
“We value relations with Libya and the Libyan people,” Margelov said. “The Russian president firmly supports sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Libya.”
Speaking after the G8 summit of seven European countries and Russia in Deauville on May 27, Medvedev said Muammar Gaddafi’s regime had lost its legitimacy and the Libyan leader must leave his post.
Medvedev said Russia would not grant asylum to Gaddafi adding that the international community no longer considered him the Libyan leader.
The revolt which began in mid-February in Libya against Gaddafi’s forty-year rule has already claimed thousands of lives, with Gaddafi’s troops maintaining their combat capabilities despite NATO airstrikes against them.
MOSCOW, June 4 (RIA Novosti)