Moscow expects the UN Security Council to end the no-fly zone over Libya, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said on Thursday.
Lukashevich said the no-fly zone should be lifted by the UN Security Council, adding that Russia had submitted a relevant draft resolution.
Any unilateral steps are unacceptable, he warned.
Russia criticized NATO’s airstrikes in Libya, accusing the alliance of breaching UN Security Council resolutions 1970 and 1973 imposing sanctions on Muammar Gaddafi’s regime.
French and British envoys to the UN said there were technical impediments to ending the no-fly zone immediately, suggesting the Libyan authorities were not as yet ready to take control.
A Libyan interim leader, Ibrahim Dabbashi, earlier told the 15-nation council that Libya’s people are “looking forward to terminating the no-fly zone over Libya as well as terminating the mandate accorded by Security Council resolution 1973 to protect civilians as soon as possible.”