Moscow, March 08: Stressing that a military intervention in Libya is not a remedy against crisis, Russia has said Libyans should solve their problems themselves.
“We support the international initiatives to provide the humanitarian aid to those affected by the Libyan crisis,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in Kaliningrad.
“Russia had sent Emergency Ministry’s planes to deliver food and medicines to the North African state,” Mr Lavrov said, reiterating Russia’s official position on the ongoing situation in the riots-hit Libya, saying the African state needed political methods to stop the bloodshed, RIA Novosti news agency reported.
The unrest in Libya began on February 15, following the ouster of authoritarian regimes in Tunisia and Egypt. Libyans are demanding an end to its leader Muammar Gaddafi’s 42-year rule.
Up to 6,000 people had been killed in the anti-government clashes, according to the international human rights organisations.
US President Barack Obama said the United States had allocated additional 15 million dollar for emergency operations in the neighbouring regions, sheltering thousands of refugees, who had fled Libya.
“I want to send a very clear message to those who are around Colonel Gaddafi. It is their choice to make how they operate moving forward and they will be held accountable for whatever violence continues to take place there,” Mr Obama said after a meeting with Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
Earlier, yesterday North Atlantic Treaty Organisation(NATO) Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the alliance would not intervene in strife-torn nation, though it had plans in case of any possible scenario.
–UNI