UN must lead Libya talks - Russia-Haftar (3)

(ANSA) - Moscow, August 14 - Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said that Russia believes that all mediation efforts for a solution to the conflict in Libya must be under the UN and "contribute to dialogue" within the country. The comment was made during a meeting with Libya army commander Khalifa Haftar, reports Interfax. 'It is very important now to concentrate all mediation ideas under the UN, in a political sense," Lavrov said. "To this end, we believe that these activities must not be finalized towards the development of political prescriptions and that they should instead contribute to creating more favorable conditions for dialogue between the key figures in Libya so that they can negotiate the future of their country." Haftar, who controls Libya's eastern coastal region of Cyrenaica, said that "we are counting on continuing even in the future the fight against terrorist groups until the Libyan national army has control over all the Libyan territory in order to ensure stability and security." In recent days, Italian prime minister Paolo Gentiloni has called for a strong initiative by the UN for Libya stability.