"I have sent yet another appeal to my Libyan counterpart. We believe that Libyan authorities, while continuing the investigation... could release Alexander Tsygankov on Russian Embassy guarantees," Sergei Lavrov told a news conference in Moscow on Wednesday.
Tsygankov was arrested in Tripoli, the capital of Libya, in late November. No official charges were brought against him.
A Russian business daily, Vedomosti, had previously quoted a Libyan official as saying that Tsygankov's arrest and the search of the company's offices were all connected to commercial espionage ahead of a December 9 tender for 12 gas fields in Libya.
The Libyan official told the paper that his colleagues were investigating a confidential information leak regarding bids for the tender. A Foreign Ministry official said the main suspects were employees of Libya's national oil company.
A Russian Embassy counselor in Tripoli said Tsygankov was "more of a witness in the case than a suspect."
Another Russian company, Gazprom [RTS: GAZP], was eventually declared the winner of the December 9 tender.
Libya holds Africa's second largest gas reserves, estimated at 1.47 trillion cubic meters.
