After
spending weeks huffing and puffing about the wrong-headed
nature
of Western action in Libya, Russia has decided to come aboard
and
is sending an envoy to persuade Qaddafi to leave Libya.
Gazeta, Russia
Russia 'Fires' Qaddafi
"I have
decided to dispatch my special envoy to Africa, Mr. Margelov. He is flying out
to Libya immediately … If the colonel steps down voluntarily, then we can
discuss how to go about it, what country might take him in, on what terms, what
he can keep and what he must lose."
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev surprised his fellow G8 summiteers by joining with the West in demanding that Libyan despot Muammar Qaddafi step down, prompting some to ask if this was part of a deal with France to supply Russia with four Mistral helicopter carriers.
As a result of the G8 summit
in Deauville, it has fallen on Russia to resolve the problem of Muammar
Qaddafi. Dmitry Medvedev said he supported the desire of Western countries to
remove the Libyan leader and has sent his special envoy to Benghazi for
negotiations.
In French Deauville, one of
the busiest G8 summits in terms of agreements has come to an end. The final
statement took up 25 pages. But the key agreement turned out to be one on
Libya. The Kremlin, which spoke skeptically at first about the operation in
that country, has finally agreed with the West that the Jamahiriya political regime must
be changed.
The unified position on Libya
was recorded in the final declaration. The leaders of Group of Eight stated that
Muammar Qaddafi has lost his right to govern.
The document notes that the
Libyan government was unable to fulfill its duty to protect the population
of its country, and has lost its legitimacy. "Qaddafi and the Libyan
government have failed to fulfill their responsibility to protect the Libyan
population and have lost all legitimacy. He has no future in a free, democratic
Libya. He must go," says the document. Russia backed the statement and at
the request of its partners, has sent its envoy.
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by WORLDMEETS.US
The president announced at the
conclusion of the summit that he was sending Mikhail Margelov to
Benghazi. Medvedev said, “I have decided to dispatch my special envoy to
Africa, Mr. Margelov. He is flying out to Libya immediately.” According to the
Russian leader, if the colonel steps down voluntarily, “then we can discuss how
to go about it, what country might take him in, on what terms, what he can keep
and what he must lose.” Medvedev said that Russia would not be the country that
takes Qaddafi. According to the president, the global community no longer sees
Qaddafi as the recognized leader of Libya.
However, it isn't entirely
clear how Margelov will carry out the mission of convincing Qaddafi to leave, because
for now, according to the president, Margelov will concentrate on negotiating
with the rebels. In Tripoli the situation is more complicated, said Medvedev,
so the question of getting Margelov to the Libyan capitol will be considered later.
It has yet to be determined whether military operations over Libya will be
halted so negotiations can take place.
On the sidelines of the
summit, there were also discussions about whether to include a warning to
Damascus: if the harsh suppression of the Syrian opposition isn't halted, the
difficulties in Syria will be examined by the U.N. Security Council. But blocked by Russia, this provision
didn't make it into the final statement. Deputy
Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov explained that Moscow considered this a
great victory. “We were a little concerned about the tendency of some of our
partners to approach these problems as though this were a cheap clothing store:
one size fits all. What's required is a serious tailor who understands what the
customer needs.” According to Ryabkov, if such a resolution appeared in the U.N.
Security Council, “we wouldn't even consider the text.”
French President Nicolas
Sarkozy, in his turn, promised that the "Group of Eight" member
countries would present a "unified position" on Syria at the U.N.
Security Council [video below]. At his closing press conference, Medvedev spoke
out in defense of Syria.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy delivers closing remarks
In discussing the impact of
developments in the Middle East and Africa, the "Eight" decided to set
aside $20 billion in aid for Egypt and Tunisia, which have undergone
revolutions.
The summit’s failing, which
Medvedev was forced to acknowledge, was the fact that Russia was unable to make
progress in talks to establish a joint missile defense system. Speaking at a
press conference, the Russian leader expressed his displeasure with this
further delay. According to him, from the silence of his American colleagues in
response to the question of who and what the European missile defense system would
be directed at, the Russian side has concluded that it must be Russia. However,
Medvedev approached the position of the U.S. president with understanding and with
apparent sympathy. “Obama will have to find the right approach to defend himself
in the Senate,” he said.
There was no agreement on the
likelihood of a visit by Barack Obama to Russia. As one diplomatic source explained
earlier, the uncertainty regarding a date for the visit is tied to differing
views in the White House of the feasibility of such a trip during an election
year for Obama.
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It turned out that the Group
of Eight leaders were interested in Medvedev plans for 2012, but his
explanation remained to world leaders remains a mystery.
“I'm not going to deny it: they
asked. I told them the absolute truth about what I and some of my colleagues
will do” Medvedev said. “I can give you a few addresses - and you can ask them.”
Russia left the summit with a
promise that a contract would be signed within two weeks for the production of French
Mistral helicopter carriers: two will be made in France, another two - in
Russia. The agreement was concluded by the presidents of Russia and France during
a bilateral meeting. However, the conditions of the contract - whether Russia received
price concessions, and whether it will receive the ships with or without
weapons - remains unknown. The president’s press secretary, Natalya Timakova,
announced on Thursday that details of the transaction haven't been disclosed,
and Medvedev didn't elaborate. In response to a question about whether the
Mistral agreement is a consequence of Russian loyalty on the Libyan question,
Sarkozy said that the issues are unconnected.
The ambiguity of Russia's
position has created the assumption that in fact the central disagreements - the
transfer of Zenith-9 command-and-control technologies and the final cost of the
transaction - have yet to be resolved.
One of the central themes of
the summit were discussions about and nominations for managing director of the IMF
to replace the prematurely departing Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Medvedev said that
right now, there is a short list of candidates. According to him, the
appropriate candidate for the post could come from one of the BRICS countries.
However, the top candidate at the conclusion of the talks was French Finance Minister
Christine Lagarde,
who received the support of all participants at the summit.
