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Middle East and North Africa

Russia's UN envoy: West hopes for miracle in Libyan settlement

The West expects UN Special Representative for Libya Bernardino Leon to play the role of the deposed Muammar Gadaffi

Russian Ambassador to UN Vitaly Churkin EPA/ ANDREW GOMBERT

Russian Ambassador to UN Vitaly Churkin

© EPA/ ANDREW GOMBERT

UNITED NATIONS, April 30. /TASS/. Western countries in the UN Security Council (SC) "practically hope for a miracle" in settling the Libyan conflict, Russian Ambassador to UN Vitaly Churkin said on Thursday.

According to Churkin, the West expects UN Special Representative for Libya Bernardino Leon to play the role of the deposed Muammar Gadaffi. "He is working hard, but everything collapsed there [in Libya]," the diplomat noted. All efforts aimed at pulling Libya out of chaos which resulted from NATO’s interference, brought no results, Churkin added.

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"Our Western colleagues say general words about their support for Leon, but they simply don’t have answers to those questions. They don’t know what to say," the ambassador said. "Now they practically hope for a miracle, for Leon to play a balancing role, which was played by Gaddafi before through his instruments and huge funds. And Leon should do the same, only without any instruments," he stressed.

UN sanctions that include freezing assets and entry bans do not help to bring Libyan militants to their senses, Churkin said. "We understand it very well that no kind of sanctions will work on those militants. So, they are banned from coming to Washington, and then what?" he wondered.

At the UN SC session, Leon "talked about the possibility of different developments, both positive and negative," Churkin noted, adding that even a political agreement does not guarantee end to military actions in the country. "We [Russia] do not have a solution. We support Leon, we hope that others countries in the region will get involved, hope for the African Union to get involved," he said.

"There are two processes going on [in Libya] right now. There are political negotiations which continue, and then there is real situation on the ground, when groups fight, receive financial support from abroad, money from exporting oil which is just divided between different groups by Libya’s central bank. That’s why they have no reasons to stop the war, apart from Leon’s talks," Churkin said. "No supremacy of law is left there [in Libya] after four years [of conflict]. So, this situation is really alarming," he concluded.

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Middle East and North Africa Foreign policy

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