Πηγή:
emgr,rs
04. September 2011
(Source: Voice of Russia)
The Russian authorities will continue to defend the interests of Russian companies in Libya, a Kremlin official said adding that Russia is taking specific measures to this end. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on the fringes of the Dushanbe summit on Saturday that Russia had invited Libyan NTC’s representatives at their request to visit Moscow to discuss the future of Russian energy projects in Libya.
This week Russia recognized Libya’s National Transitional Council as the only legitimate power in the country. A statement to this effect was published on September 1st, on the same day Col Muammar Gaddafi overthrew King Idris of Libya 42 years ago.
Russia’s envoy to Africa Mikhail Margelov met with NTC’s Chairman Abdel Jalil on the sidelines of an international conference on Libya in Paris, which brought together representatives from 63 countries. Mikhail Margelov had this to say.
"Libya’s new leaders welcomed Russia’s recognition of the country’s National Transitional Council and favored political steps offered by Russia."
Among these steps was an invitation for NTC leaders to visit Moscow to discuss political and economic issues. At the same time, President Medvedev instructed Margelov to visit Tripoli to discuss Russia’s participation in the post-war modernization of Libya. Besides, Moscow informed Libya’s new authorities about its readiness to take part in UN international missions in Libya.
Nearly all members of the Paris conference agreed that the United Nations should play a key role in international efforts in Libya. Due to this, Mikhail Margelov assessed the outcome of the Friends of Libya Conference as positive.
"The conference drew a line under the work of the so-called contact group on Libya, which received no support from Russia. The Paris forum provided a new opportunity for the UN’s comprehensive efforts in the restoration of Libya and backed the new Libyan leaders in their national consolidation policies.
Russia maintained contacts with the opposition throughout the whole of the six-month-long conflict in Libya. Moscow did so in order to end the bloodshed and start political dialogue. Two months ago, President Medvedev described Muammar Gaddafi as a “political corpse”.
Today, Gaddafi’s regime has fallen for good. In the meantime, western counties have started to “divide the Libyan pie” and are trying to deprive Russia of its share under the pretext that it had not taken part in securing the victory. Given the situation, Moscow’s bid for developing ties with Libya’s new government reflects its intention of enhancing its political interests in the region. Libya will surely cooperate with all parties concerned, and not only with the EU, the US or the Gulf countries. For this reason, Russia will always have a niche of its own in this motley political gamut, Russia’s former Ambassador to Libya Alexei Podtserob says.
"Russia’s political interests in Libya are same as in any other Arab country. Moscow maintains friendly ties with Libya. Russia is interested in developing ties with Muslim countries. About 13 percent of the Russian population are Muslims. In addition, Russia, as a Black Sea nation and consequently, a Mediterranean one, should pursue friendly ties with Libya and other countries of the Southern Mediterranean."
For this reason, Russia will continue to develop cooperation with Libya in the same economic format as it did before the crisis. Analyst Stanislav Tarasov comments.
"Russia’s shift of policy towards Libya reflects its intention of being in time for the “division of the Libyan pie”. Economic projects are coming to the fore, and as experts say, Russia’s economic losses may amount to about 10 billion dollars."
Russia’s overall losses from unimplemented military contracts total 4.5 billion dollars. Other frozen contracts include the construction of a high-speed railroad from Sirte to Benghazi whose value is estimated at 2.2 billion euro.
About one billion dollars has been invested in three energy projects. Several days before the Libyan crisis Gazprom decided to join a consortium on the development of the Elephant oil field whose reserves were assessed at 110 million tons.
Even though Gazprom is still interested in the Elephant oil field project, it has chosen to refrain from paying its share of the deal for now because of the uncertainty in Libya. Konstantin Simonov is President of the National Energy Security Foundation.
"In Iraq, years passed before the government managed to work out the new rules of the game in the oil sector following the toppling of Saddam Husein. Still, oil companies operating in Kurd-populated areas of Iraq have to work under different conditions than in the rest of the country. The situation in Libya is similar. Libya is populated by a number of tribes, artificially united into one country. The major oil production areas – two on the ground and one on the shelf – are controlled by different tribes. Oil deposits are scattered, and no one knows how to establish an effective management of them all."
The Russian authorities will continue to defend the interests of Russian companies in Libya, a Kremlin official said adding that Russia is taking specific measures to this end. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on the fringes of the Dushanbe summit on Saturday that Russia had invited Libyan NTC’s representatives at their request to visit Moscow to discuss the future of Russian energy projects in Libya.
