In his latest article with Al-Monitor, Kirill Semenov argues that Government of National Accord (GNA) PM Fayez Al-Sarraj’s recent visit to Sochi, Russia, exposed the internal Russian divisions on Russia’s Libya policy. On 23-24 October, Russia hosted the first Africa-Russia summit and Economic Forum in Sochi, an event which was designed by Russia as a way to expand its influence in the African continent. For Semenov, Sarraj’s visit to Sochi can be interpreted as a gesture of recognition of Sarraj’s political legitimacy and compensate for the alleged strong links between Russia and Libya’s Eastern-based armed forces and parallel institutions. According to Semenov’s sources, Russia had objected to the presence of Libyan parallel factions at the forum. Over the past months, there have been growing controversies regarding Russia’s involvement in the Libyan crisis.Click here to read the article.
Russia divided over Libya policy