ROME, February 6. /TASS/. Rome expects Moscow to support efforts aimed at settling the Libyan crisis, Italian Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano said in an interview with the La Stampa daily.

The Italian top diplomat pointed out that last Friday he had held a telephone conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, during which the parties had particularly discussed the Libyan issue. "I see their willingness to cooperate (after a number of contacts with Russia, UAE and Qatar), everybody understands that Libya has strategic importance for us as far as security and the migration issue are concerned, so this problem should not be underestimated," Alfano added. "Each country should play its part in order to restore peace," he said.

According to the Italian foreign minister, the United States should also participate in solving the Libyan crisis. "I will discuss this with (US Secretary of State Rex) Tillerson at a meeting that will take place in the near future," the Italian top diplomat said.

When speaking on the upcoming presidential election in France, Alfano, who is the leader of Italy's New Center-Right (Nuovo Centrodestra) party, noted that he could not imagine that Marine Le Pen would win, for that would cause a rift between European countries. "I hope the French will choose Europe. France was one of the founders of the European Union, together with Italy and Germany it initiated the unification of Europe, so this should not be forgotten," Alfano added.