Libya: Merkel, Putin call for de-escalation at Kremlin talks

Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday called for international efforts to address the escalating crisis in Libya warning it could become a “second Syria.

Libya has seen a recent escalation of the turmoil that has gripped the oil-rich country since a NATO-backed uprising killed dictator Moamer Qadhafi in 2011, with strongman Khalifa Haftar trying to capture Tripoli from the UN-recognised government.

Germany and Russia are both acting as mediators in a conflict Berlin has warned could become a “second Syria” and the topic topped the agenda as they met for talks at the Kremlin.

Putin along with Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan this week called for a ceasefire in Libya starting Sunday from midnight, but Haftar has vowed to fight on.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Saturday that Ankara is “waiting for our Russian friends to succeed in convincing Haftar.”

“I am really counting on the opposing sides in Libya ceasing fire, ceasing armed combat… within a few hours,” Putin said.

“It’s important to bring an end to the armed confrontation.”

Merkel, making her first visit to Russia since 2018, said she hoped “the Turkish-Russian efforts will be successful,” calling a ceasefire a first step in a peace process.

– Backing Berlin conference –

At their meeting, both expressed support for a planned Libya peace conference in Berlin being organised by UN special envoy to Libya, Ghassan Salame, which could be held in the coming weeks.

“We agreed that soon we’ll be able to send out invitations for a conference on Libya in Berlin,” Merkel said.

“We support the initiative of the German Chancellor to hold a conference,” Putin said, calling this “timely” and a “very good step in the right direction.”

The conference must include “countries that have a real interest in promoting a peace settlement” and decisions must be agreed preliminarily with the Libyan sides, with the involvement of Salame, he said.

– ‘Not in Moscow’s pay’ –

While Turkey has sent troops to support the UN-backed Tripoli government, Moscow is accused of backing mercenaries supporting strongman Haftar in his fight against the government.

Putin reiterated Moscow’s denial of this, saying: “if there are Russians there, they do not represent the interests of the Russian state and do not receive money from it.”

In Libya, “unfortunately large-scale military action is continuing and terrorist activity is growing,” said Putin, who is keen to stress his role as a regional powerbroker.

“All this undermines stability not only in the region itself but has a negative influence on Europe,” he added, citing smuggling of drugs and weapons.

He stressed the need to “restart the political process with the final aim of overcoming the split inside the country and forming single state institutions.”

The talks that Putin praised as “substantive” also covered other flashpoints in the region, including Iran, with the leaders stressing the need to save the 2015 nuclear deal that the US withdrew from unilaterally in 2018.

Merkel said it was necessary to “keep (the deal) alive” to prevent Iran acquiring nuclear weapons, while Putin said it was necessary for Instex, a barter mechanism to allow Iran to circumvent sanctions on trade backed by major European powers, to “finally start working.”

The talks also covered the Syria conflict where a fresh ceasefire brokered by Russia and Turkey is expected to go into effect after midnight in the last major opposition bastion of Idlib.

Putin warned that “large-scale military conflicts” in the Middle East would be a “catastrophe not only for the region, the Middle East, but for the whole world,” leading to “new flows of migrants” to Europe and other regions.

This would also cause “huge damage to the global economy,” he said.

The leaders also discussed the war with Russia-backed separatists in Ukraine.

Putin in December took part in talks on the Ukraine conflict in Paris in the “Normandy format” hosted by Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron.

This was his first face-to-face meeting with his recently-installed Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, relaunching the stalled peace process.