Leonid Slutsky, the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Lower House of the Russian Federal Assembly (State Duma), welcomed the ongoing political dialogue between the Libyan parties under the auspices of the United Nations.
Slutsky said that Russia aims to bring peace as soon as possible in Libya. He added that Russia was “in constant contact with the Libyan Parliament. We welcome the efforts of the United Nations to unify institutions.”
The head of the Parliamentary committee revealed that Moscow is communicating with politicians and activists in all of Libya. He explained, “We have a dialogue with all Libyan parties, but our partner is the Parliament Speaker Aqeela Saleh and his colleagues in the elected parliament.”
Regarding his vision for the upcoming elections, Slutsky said: “I am confident that it will be free elections and that we can participate in monitoring the elections after a year.” He saw the need to select the participants in the dialogues on the basis of regional representation.
Slutsky talked about recent communications with the Head of United Nations Support Mission in Libya Stephanie Williams, saying: “We spoke with her during her visit to Moscow, as well as over the phone.”
Slutsky expressed his hope for the continuation of the Libyan dialogue. He urged everyone who wants to stand with the Libyans to assist in effective dialogue in order to form the authority after the elections scheduled for December 2021. He also expressed his confidence that this task will be up to the Libyans and the United Nations.
Regarding the discussion with Saleh during his visit to Moscow, Slutsky said: “We discussed a number of basic settlement processes in Libya and they will reach an agreement at the earliest opportunity.”
