{"id":97761,"date":"2020-01-14T17:19:12","date_gmt":"2020-01-15T00:19:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=97761"},"modified":"2020-01-14T17:19:12","modified_gmt":"2020-01-15T00:19:12","slug":"nato-bombed-libyas-statehood-russian-foreign-minister-lavrov","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/01\/14\/nato-bombed-libyas-statehood-russian-foreign-minister-lavrov\/","title":{"rendered":"NATO ‘Bombed’ Libya’s Statehood – Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov"},"content":{"rendered":"

Courtesy Sputnik<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Earlier this day, the Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed that Libyan National Army (LNA) leader Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar had left Moscow without signing a ceasefire agreement with the head of the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) Fayez al-Sarraj.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commenting on the failure to reach a ceasefire agreement between Libyan Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar and the UN-backed government, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Libya’s statehood had been destroyed by NATO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“If Libya could become ‘a second Syria’, I believe the Libyan people will benefit from this. Unfortunately, there is no statehood in Libya so far,” Lavrov said at a press conference, held after talks with Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

“The Libyan statehood was bombed by NATO in 2011, and we are still facing the consequences of this illegal, criminal escapade, the Libyan people first of all,” Lavrov said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Russian foreign minister noted the need to urge the conflicting parties in Libya to negotiate instead of resorting to using force<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Monday, Haftar met with Libya’s internationally recognised prime minister, Fayez Sarraj in the Russian capital for talks mediated by Russia and Turkey. That day, Lavrov said that Haftar had asked for a little extra time to look at a draft ceasefire agreement between Libya\u2019s conflicting sides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, early this morning, it was announced that Haftar had left Moscow without signing a deal<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Assassination of Soleimani<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

According to the Russian foreign minister, the assassination of Qassem Soleimani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp\u2019s Quds Force, was the culmination of US illegal actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Of course, the killing of Qasem Soleimani, an official representative of the Iranian government who was paying a visit to neighbouring Iraq, was the culmination of Washington’s illegal actions. This is certainly beyond any international legal and humane framework,” Lavrov said at a press conference after talks with Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

He added that Washington’s policies on Iran were behind the increase in tensions in the Persian Gulf area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Of course, no one can be satisfied with the events in the Persian Gulf area, where tensions are increasing, and, I would say, nervousness is increasing, which affects practical steps and results in people’s deaths,” Lavrov said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\n \u00a9\n Fotolia \/ Borna_MirTehran Plans to Take Trump to International Court for Soleimani\u2019s Assassination \u2013 Iran\u2019s Top Judge<\/a>Soleimani, 62, was killed in Baghdad on January 3 when the convoy he and a senior Iraqi Shia militia leader were riding in was struck by a US Reaper drone.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donald Trump ordered the strike without seeking the approval of Congress, which is normally required in such cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have claimed, citing undisclosed intelligence, that Soleimani was planning attacks on US embassies<\/a>, creating the impression that he was posing a threat to US security.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Courtesy Sputnik Earlier this day, the Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed that Libyan National Army (LNA) leader Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar had left Moscow without signing a ceasefire agreement with the head of the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) Fayez al-Sarraj. Commenting on the failure to reach a ceasefire agreement between Libyan Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97761\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}