Contacts with the Libyan opposition are necessary because you need to find a consensus with the various movements in any state, according to political analysts. The delegation was formed in Benghazi, the Libyan national Transitional Council (NTC) on Monday may 23 met in Moscow with head of Russian Foreign Ministry Sergei Lavrov. Russian foreign Ministry announced that talks on the situation in Libya and ways to resolve the armed conflict in that North African country.

According to the Minister of foreign Affairs of Russia, a delegation from Benghazi headed by Abdel Rahman Shalgham, who previously served as head of the Libyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was the permanent representative of Libya to the United Nations.

As previously reported, "Voice of America", the representatives of the Libyan opposition had planned to visit the Russian capital last week. But "for technical reasons", as notified by the Russian foreign Ministry, the visit was postponed.

In early may, the leadership of the Russian foreign Ministry hosted the representatives of Muammar Gaddafi, who continues to hold power in the capital, Tripoli, but his regime is increasingly losing international legitimacy.

Sergei Lavrov has stated that Moscow does not intend to act as a mediator between Tripoli and Benghazi, however, supports the initiative of the African Union on the peaceful settlement of the armed conflict.

For the expert of the Carnegie Moscow center, Professor Alexei Malashenko it is obvious that the visit of the Libyan opposition in Moscow and her meeting with Sergei Lavrov means the recognition that "Gaddafi is no more." "Not as a subject of international relations. As such, it no longer exists. And who is there, so is the opposition," he said in conversation with the correspondent of Russian service "voice of America".

According to him, Russia cannot ignore this fact provided that in Libya we have significant resources. "Once the Kremlin made a mistake when played with Saddam Hussein, and the country has lost a lot of money. There is quite a sad prospect that she will lose a lot," – he concluded.

The expert of Institute of Oriental studies Boris Dolgov believes that Russian diplomacy has always proceeded from the fact that you need to find a consensus with the various movements in each country. "So, of course, necessary contacts and with the opposition too," he added in an interview with "Voice of America". In his view, is a continuation of the policy that was conducted before the Russian foreign Ministry. "Here some extraordinary new direction can hardly be found," suggests Boris Dolgov.

He believes that Russia's position today could dramatically change any situation in international terms. It is therefore not agreed with the opinion of Alexei Malashenko, however, admitted: "Yes, Qaddafi's future in General, probably not, although in purely military terms his forces, as we know, quite successfully carried out an operation against the rebels despite NATO air strikes".

Professor Malashenko is convinced that in this case Russia is fighting for their material economic interests and in a way tends to maintain its prestige. The position taken Moscow, at some point, was, in his opinion, a very good, pragmatic and promising.

"But perspectives change, Russia should be more active and more clearly state his line that, in fact, supposed to commemorate the visit of the opposition in Moscow," he said.

Expert of the Carnegie Moscow Center thinks that sooner or later the rapprochement between Russia and the United States on the Libyan issue should occur, "if only because Gaddafi is impossible to bet".

"I hardly imagine a situation when someone, not counting Ahmadinejad could win by supporting Qaddafi," he said.

According to Boris Dolgov, Russia at the beginning of the conflict largely relied on official Libyan government in the face of Gaddafi, approaching the issue both from a pragmatic point of view, since Russia has its own economic interests, and in terms of international law.

"At the beginning of the conflict, the government of Gaddafi was a recognized member of the UN and respect the leadership of Libya with the European Union and the US weren't so bad. But then everything changed due to the fact that Gaddafi began to pursue a hard line on the violent suppression of the opposition," he recalled.

As it seems Boris Dolgova, Russia's position became more flexible and "more close to the position of the majority of the international community".

Source: http://www.voanews.com/russian/news/world-news/VV-LIbya-2011-05-23-122457489.html?utm_source=lenta-ru&utm_medium=adbox&utm_content=headline&utm_campaign=russian-branding

Tags: Russia , USA , Libya , Africa