Head of the Libyan National Army (LNA) Field Marshal Khalifa Belqasim Haftar visited Moscow where he and other representatives of the LNA military delegation met with top Russian military leadership, including Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
According to an official statement by the LNA, the sides discussed the situation in Libya, including ways to solve the conflict and combating the terrorism. The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed this in its own statement:
“On Wednesday, November 7, the Russian Defense Ministry hosted a meeting between Defense Minister Army General Sergei Shoigu and Libyan National Army Head Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, The parties discussed security issues, focusing on the Middle East and North Africa, as well as the fight against international terrorism and ways to resolve the Libyan crisis.”
Haftar’s visit to Moscow followed a series of wild speculations by the mainstream media that Russia is going to intervene in the Libyan conflict in order to support the LNA. While a full-scale Russian military operation in Libya is highly unlikely, Moscow contributes diplomatic efforts to support the LNA actions to stabelize the situation in the country.
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If true. Good luck. Its certainly needed.
From article it states: “According to an official statement by the LNA, the sides discussed the situation in Libya, including ways to solve the conflict and combating the terrorism… “While a full-scale Russian military operation in Libya is highly unlikely, Moscow contributes diplomatic efforts to support the LNA actions to stabilize the situation in the country.”
The scope of these talks is more than military matters – they extend to diplomacy and foreign policy – with Lavrov and Putin nowhere in sight and not mentioned in article at all.
You do know that the bosses do not need to go to every meeting dont you ?, there is a chain of command. Blimey Putin and Lavrov are already dealing with a thousand issues.
You are right, they can delegate, but if they did, it would involve representatives from diplomatic cadre – Deputy Foreign Minister.
Libya has an arms embargo and Moscow denies military involvement. Only presence of military in meeting and no meeting of civil government when diplomatic efforts are discussed that are foreign ministry not military. This does not have good optics for denying military intervention in Libya while claiming role is to bring about reconciliation settlement of the opposing factions – This is something Putin would absolutely be hands on with and this was the case in past, Libya is very important to Putin as it was a major factor in decision to intervene in Syria. Below are links that show involvement of Lavrov and diplomats in addition to military – Shoigu – this was the case before the IL-20 incident and is expected because:
“Haftar’s meetings in Russia mainly focused on the development of the military and political situation in Libya.” https://www.middleeastobserver.org/2016/12/01/haftars-2nd-visit-to-moscow-will-russia-intervene-in-libya/
After IL-20, this changed and notice Shoigu handling what is foreign ministry area as well as military in Syria – see SF article excerpt below
https://southfront.org/the-unraveling-of-the-netanyahu-project-for-the-middle-east/ May 2018 now seems a distant era. Trump is still the same ‘Trump’, but Putin is not the same Putin. The Russian Defence Establishment has weighed in with their President to express their displeasure at Israeli air strikes on Syria – purportedly targeting Iranian forces in Syria. The Russian Defence Ministry too, has enveloped Syria in a belt of missiles and electronic disabling systems across the Syrian airspace.
https://www.france24.com/en/20170124-supporting-marshal-haftar-russia-marks-its-territory-libya: below is from article There is a clear political aspect to Russia’s actions in Libya, and to date this has been largely ignored,” Dubien went on. “One surprising point is that Russia’s Libya policy is one of the rare occasions when Vladimir Putin, when he was prime minister, was not in complete agreement with then-president Dmitri Medvedev, his top political ally.”
Russia felt completely side-lined by the 2011 Franco-British military intervention.
“It was perceived by Putin, in the context of the Arab Spring, as something engineered by the West and a definite threat to Russian influence,” said Dubien. “And preventing the West from repeating their Libyan actions in Syria became one of the principal motivations for allying so closely with Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria
https://www.rt.com/news/399424-libya-haftar-italy-warships/ Haftar is to meet on Monday Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and possibly some senior officials from the Defense Ministry, Lev Dengov, Russian special envoy for Libya, told RIA Novosti… It is Haftar’s third trip to Russia. The previous visit was in November 2016, when he also met Lavrov.
Commenting on his upcoming visit to Moscow, the general remarked that Russia has historical ties with Libya and has “no intention of building a military base” in the eastern part of the country, where Haftar has his power base.
Dengov said Russia is involved in mediation between Haftar and Sarraj, who visited Moscow in early March. “Russia’s position on the issue it that we should talk to all sides of the conflict. On our part we are trying to help the parties agree and bring peace to Libya,” the Russian diplomat said.
The November 29 and December 1, 2016 articles discuss Haftar meeting with Shoigu and Lavrov and discusses Putins position http://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-libya-haftar-idUSKBN13O1VP and https://www.middleeastobserver.org/2016/12/01/haftars-2nd-visit-to-moscow-will-russia-intervene-in-libya/
This article has an example of Haftar discussing with Shoigu but symbolic, the article focuses on importance to Putin who felt betrayed by West over Libya https://www.france24.com/en/20170124-supporting-marshal-haftar-russia-marks-its-territory-libya below excerpt from article
There is a clear political aspect to Russia’s actions in Libya, and to date this has been largely ignored,” Dubien went on. “One surprising point is that Russia’s Libya policy is one of the rare occasions when Vladimir Putin, when he was prime minister, was not in complete agreement with then-president Dmitri Medvedev, his top political ally.”
Russia felt completely side-lined by the 2011 Franco-British military intervention.
“It was perceived by Putin, in the context of the Arab Spring, as something engineered by the West and a definite threat to Russian influence,” said Dubien. “And preventing the West from repeating their Libyan actions in Syria became one of the principal motivations for allying so closely with Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria
Article below accuses Russia of arming Haftar with advanced weaponry – actually came from UAE http://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/07/world/africa/trump-libya-policy-russia.html NYTimes article quite biased but gives idea of mess in Libya
Nice comment and great info, thank you.
My gut feel is that Russia should stay out of Libya FOR NOW, although I assume is is involved on some minor basis.
I honestly do not know about the situation over there in any detail, however from the little I do know; it is a powder keg.
Could the US and allies created a failed state (with strong relationships with Russia), just to draw Russia into into ?.
Good comment. Russian military are shifting from diplomatic reconciliation between sides to outright backing hafar. This is risky if you consider the history. Diplomatic effort was not dependent on a winner as working with both sides but now throwing their lot in with one side – obviously if they back the wrong side, it will undo any gains.
Libya as failed state is due to plan to de-dollarize in a pan-African economic bloc – US destroyed Libya for that.
And Qadaffi was going to introduce gold coinage for Libya. The Zionists will launch a nuclear war to prevent gold ever getting into the pockets of ordinary people.
Correct. That was the vehicle for de-dollarization, not just Libya, but across much of the African Continent – if Gaddafi’s aspirations were to be realized. Yes, gold is the enemy of fiat currency, that magically appears out of thin air… The reaction to be expected, the outcome unfortunate, as described by Hillary Clinton – We came, we saw, he died (cackling laughter). A real low point in US diplomacy and that is really saying something… readers may now shower…
Lavrov is not arrogant flunkie like Pompeo and Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu does not clean floors. Those are the two of the three highest level people in the Russian government. The MOD in particular is in charge of the defense of Russia and the Syrian campaign. Shoigu orders when to bomb in Syria and, if he and Lavrov decide it would be in the interest of Russia to intervene in Libya, they and Putin will decide. Why should Putin be there in the initial phases when they are looking at the whole scope of what can be done? After the formalities the conclusions are presented to Putin.
It is about the optics. True, Putin does not need to be there, Lavrov is more than sufficient representation of civilian government. The issue is when only military representatives are sent while denying military involvement in Libya.
The other issue is Putin being publicly contradicted by his Defence Minister and then sidelined – Shoigu was running the press conferences with no civilian representation. Putin and/or Lavrov were involved in delegations to Libya prior to September 18, 2018. No civilian representation after September 18 represented a significant change and I think Putin going to Libya would be important to show him reasserting his authority. That this did not happen is suggestive of military in drivers seat.
Note that it appears Putin has since then reasserted his authority. Will have to see how the power struggles play out.
In each and every country around the world Washington and England have created butcher organizations called fake liberation army composed of their army and coloured them that they belong to the relevant countries.
ffs… if only the Libyans has a guy like Gaddafi around to keep the peace.
Peace, He started wars with Chad Eygpt America France Tanzania
Gaddafi did not start any war with the US or France. He choose to sell oil wherever he wanted and refused to be a Zionist puppet. That is not “starting a war”. Now I wonder about the other countries you name. The CIA/MOSSAD worked to destabilize his government in every way possible. Qadaffi was going to introduce real money – gold coins – for Libya. The Zionists would launch a nuclear war to prevent gold from ever getting back into the pockets of the people.