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Russia decides to open Consulate General in Benghazi in eastern Libya — senior diplomat

Mikhail Bogdanov said that Russia’s ambassador to Libya will be appointed in the near future

MOSCOW, October 4. /TASS/. Russia made a decision to resume the operations of its Consulate General in Benghazi in eastern Libya, Russian Special Presidential Envoy for the Middle East and Africa, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov told TASS on Tuesday.

"A key decision was made to resume our work in Benghazi, to restore the Consulate General of our country in Benghazi, in the country’s east, which functioned and existed until 1992," he noted. "We consider it very important and pertinent to work on Libya’s entire territory and restore that presence that was there before the breakup of the Soviet Union," the senior diplomat added.

Bogdanov said that Russia’s ambassador to Libya will be appointed in the near future. "Our advance team is in Tripoli, it arrived ahead of time to see how to set up the operations of our embassy. I think, very soon our new ambassador to Libya will be appointed. And those employees who were temporarily on Tunisian territory will return to Tripoli," he noted.

On October 2, 2013, the Russian Embassy in Tripoli was attacked. Perpetrators stormed the embassy’s premises and later were pushed back by Libya’s army units. No Russians were injured in the attack. Libyan authorities admitted that they could not guarantee the diplomats’ safety so it was decided to evacuate them.