Moscow will insist that future UN resolutions on peacekeeping and peacekeeping operations in any country will have no ambiguity regarding the use of force, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday.
“Regarding external intervention by force, this can be possible only with the involvement of the UN, either by a resolution of the UN Security Council, or as part of the existing right of states to individual or collective self-defense.
When the UN Security Council makes a decision on peacekeeping or peacekeeping operations, its mandate should be clear and unambiguous and conclusive in regard to the goals of the participants’ operations, and especially in regard to limits on the use of force. Russia will take care that this will be foremost in any matter,” Lavrov said in an address to students at the Moscow State University for International Relations.
A Security Council resolution of March 17 authorized a no-fly zone over Libya. Two days later, a coalition air operation began, and on March 31 was fully handed over to NATO control. The mandate for the operation expired on June 27 but on June 1, NATO extended it for a further 90 days until the end of September.
Russian politicians including Prime Minister Vladimir Putin denounced the NATO operation as exceeding the boundaries of the UN resolution.
Russia recognized the Libyan Transitional National Council as the legitimate power in Libya on September 1. The Council was established in the city of Benghazi in February.