“It’s not up to NATO to decide the future of Libya. If someone in NATO thinks otherwise, they are deeply mistaken,” Moscow’s envoy Dmitry Rogozin shared his concerns after a Russia-NATO meeting.
The concern comes from the UN Resolution drafted by the Security Council which Russia has been a strong proponent of. From the start there has been concern over the wording of the resolution, which was supposed to be establishing a no-fly zone so that Gadaffi couldn’t use helicopters or airplanes to target and bomb cities. Now with the current interruption of the resolution, the coalition is using it as a free pass to attack Gadaffi, and provide air support to rebel forces.
Moscow currently has many questions and concerns about how the resolution is being carried out, and is meeting at NATO’s headquarters in Brussels to give their opinion, now that NATO has taken over command of the Libyan operation. Russia has constantly insisted that the coalition stick closer to its original intent, which was to protect civilians. There have been a number of civilian deaths which have been reported, and appear to be confirmed by reliable sources. This is exactly the opposite of the resolution, and NATO should be aware of this moving forward, as the deaths of civilians are exactly what the resolution was adopted to prevent.
Moscow wants to remind the coalition of the simple and clear initial reason for the resolution. Which includes establishing a no-fly zone, establishing an embargo on arms supplied to Libya, according to international law. Therefore Russia also needs full transparency of the events as they unfold in Libya, including the operations that NATO is performing, as Russia maintains a key role in NATO, and being a primary NATO partner in the North Atlantic Region.
We have made our positions clear, and the partners have confirmed that they understand our views and positions. We have urged, and have been guaranteed that the coalition will listen to the updates of the situation released by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and to focus on a selective use of force, and only in cases which adhere to the strict interruption of the UN Security Resolution, and not the creative interpretation of the resolution which has some countries mentioning the possibility further action.
It is important for NATO to listen to its partners on this Libyan situation, especially as Russia and NATO have a meeting April 15th discussing the potential of the Euro Missile Defense shield. Russian and European cooperation is key in Libya, as this will be a test to see how well the two can work together in terms of a missile defense plan..
