By Libya Herald reporter.
Tunis, 6 June 2017:
Khalifa Hafter’s close confidant Abdulbasit Elbadri was back in Moscow today for talks with its deputy foreign minister, Mikhail Bogdanov.
Badri and Bogdanov focused on potential changes to the Libyan Political Agreement (LPA) as attempts to ramp up the dialogue process increase.
Key points of disagreement were looked at in the hope of bringing viewpoints closer together between Libya’s various factions.
Up until last month Basit was Libyan ambassador to Saudi Arabia, but was sacked by the Presidency Council’s foreign minister, Mohamed Siala, just before the PC head, Faiez Serraj flew to the Saudi capital for the American-Islamic summit.
Russia has been seen as supportive of Hafter and the Libyan National Army (LNA) and its anti-Islamist approach, although it also supports the LPA and regularly talks to the the UN-backed government in Tripoli. The eastern authorities have consistently urged the Russians to start providing weapons and ammunition again, as has Presidency Council head Faiez Serraj, but Moscow has stuck rigidly with UN arms embargo.
That has not stopped Moscow saying that Hafter and the LNA must be the core of a new Libyan army.
