On Wednesday, the Vice President of Libya’s Government of National Accord (GNA) Ahmed Maetiq and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohamed Siala held a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his deputy, Mikhail Bogdanov, in Moscow.
During the meeting, Lavrov reiterated that Russia did not believe in a military solution to the crisis in Libya. He stressed the need for a humanitarian truce and resumption of political dialogue.
Lavrov also brought up the case of Maxim Shugaley and Samir Seifan, two Russian nationals who were arrested in Tripoli, last year. He stated that this remained a major obstacle to further
developing relations between Russia and the GNA.
Russian media stated that Maetiq and Siala had arrived to Moscow for talks with the
Russian officials. They noted Maetiq declined to make any comments prior to the
negotiations being held at the Russian Foreign Ministry.
The two parties also discussed the resolutions of the Berlin Conference held on 19 January. The visit by the GNA’s Vice President to Moscow comes two days after his consultations with the American Ambassador to Libya, Richard Norland, during which the two discussed the resumption of the UN sponsored Libyan dialogue process.
It also coincides with intense diplomatic activity at the international and regional levels regarding the Libyan crisis. This week the United Nations Support Mission in Libya announced that the GNA and the Libyan National Army (LNA) had agreed to resume the suspended 5+5 Joint Military Commission talks in Geneva.