The new Libyan authorities have signaled their readiness to continue economic cooperation with Russia, president-elect Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday.
“The new Libyan authorities have sent signals that they would be interested in maintaining economic ties [with Russia],” Putin, the current prime minister, said in his annual report to State Duma lawmakers, the last before his inauguration as president in May.
His statement came in response to a question from one of the lawmakers about steps to be made to recover Russia’s economic losses in the Middle East as a result of the Arab Spring.
Russia abstained from a UN Security Council vote on a resolution authorizing a no-fly zone over Libya in March 2011, giving the green light to a NATO military operation that eventually led to the overthrow of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Russian officials have estimated the country’s economic losses caused by regime change in Libya at $4 billion.
Russia’s efforts to persuade the new Libyan authorities to honor its arms supplies, railroad construction, oil and gas mining contracts signed under Gaddafi have been hampered by what some observers describe as Moscow’s initial reluctance to back the Libyan uprising, as well as by Russia’s strong criticism of the NATO military operation in Libya, which Moscow says exceeded the UN mandate and played a major role in overthrowing Gaddafi.
Libyan Prime Minister Abd al-Rahim al-Keeb said last month the Libyan government was dissatisfied with Russia’s stance on Libya’s uprising.
"Are we willing to see Russians in Libya again?..Yes, probably, if those contracts do not benefit the deposed regime and have no ties with it. Will we extend Russian contracts? Theoretically, yes, but only after we study them and confirm that they are in line with the legislation and are not blemished by corruption,” al-Keeb said.
Putin said on Wednesday he believed the “fundamental interests” of Russia were “to a large extent similar” to those of Middle Eastern countries.
“I have no doubts that we will move to new forms, new horizons and new levels of cooperation,” he said.
The best way to achieve this, he said, is to develop Russia’s own economy so that cooperation with Russia became “attractive” and did not depend on “regime changes in any countries.”
