By Libya Herald reporters.
Tripoli, 23 December 2015:
Russia is sending confused signals over Libya. Though backing the UNSMIL-brokered Government of National Accord, . . .[restrict]foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has welcomed Khalifa Ghwell in Moscow, describing him as “the Acting Prime Minister of the Libyan government in Tripoli.”
The ambiguity of the Russian foreign ministry statement following yesterday’s encounter was clearly deliberate, as was the response to Ghwell’s call for Russian help in battling IS terrorists as they seek to expand from their Sirte base. The Tripoli politician said afterwards that Lavrov had responded that Russia was willing to help any country confronting terrorism.
The remnant of the General National Congress and the government it has appointed have long been seeking a degree of international recognition. Until now the main effort has been with the EU, offering to stem the flow of migrants in exchange for cooperation which would entail some level of diplomatic acceptance.
However the Russians appear to be vexed that Libya s still holding the captain and two officers of the tanker Mekhanik Chebotarev, detained in September on suspicion of smuggling fuel to Malta. The public prosecutor has said that the trio are to go on trial.
Ghwell arrived in Moscow on Saturday with the other Russian crew members, variously put at five and seven. He then went into a meeting with deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov. An Arabic speaker, Bogdanov is also president Putin’s special envoy for the Middle East and Africa. [/restrict]
