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Lavrov says Russia will not admit replay of Libyan scenario for Syria

“It wasn’t the Libyan people who decided Gaddafi’s fate, it was NATO,” he said

MOSCOW, June 21 (Itar-Tass) — Russia will not admit a replay of the Libyan scenario in Syria, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with the Echo of Moscow liberal radio.

“It wasn’t the Libyan people who decided Gaddafi’s fate, it was NATO,” he said. “Nothing would have happened there without NATO’s bombings. Or, to be more precise, a reciprocal self-annihilation of the people would have continued, but NATO wouldn’t have gotten a mandate to take part in that war as one of the warring sides anyway.”

“That’s why Gaddafi’s plight is a somewhat different story but a replication of the Libyan scenario in Syria won’t be admitted, and we can guarantee this,” Lavrov said. “That’s why the parties to the Syrian conflict should take seats at the conference table and negotiate peace.”