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Libya’s National Army hails Moscow’s stance

According to Russia’s top diplomat Sergey Lavrov, Russia opposed to assigning blame in Libyan crisis

TASS, April 6. Libya’s National Army (LNA) led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar hails Russia’s stance on the situation in their country, LNA Spokesperson Brigadier General Ahmed Al-Mesmari said on Al Arabiya television channel on Saturday.

"We hail the stance of Russia that realizes it is necessary to put an end to threats from militias and terrorist groups," he said commenting on Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s words at talks in Cairo with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry.

Earlier in the day, Lavrov said that Moscow "keeps an eye on the armed forces’ advance, including the Libyan National Army and other groups, including those, which are illegal armed groups and control a considerable part of the country’s capital and some other areas".

The Russian foreign minister stressed, "We are opposed to attempts to apportion blame unilaterally."

Currently, Libya has two supreme executive authorities, namely Tripoli’s world-recognized government of National Accord headed by Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj and the interim government headed by Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thani, which operates in the country’s east along with the elected parliament and is supported by the Libyan National Army.

On April 4, Haftar announced the launch of an offensive on Tripoli. Meanwhile, Fayez al-Sarraj ordered all military units subordinate to him to be on alert and to use force if necessary "to defend the civilian population and critical facilities".