Russia invites Libyan rebel officials to Moscow

Russia has invited the Libyan National Transitional Council's (NTC) officials to Moscow, Russian envoy to Africa, Mikhail Margelov, said on Friday. Margelov, who headed the Russian delegation at the international conference on Libya that was held in Paris on Thursday, said that he had met with the NTC' s chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil and invited him to visit Moscow for talks about the future of Russian-Libyan political and economic ties. Margelov however did not specify whether Jalil had accepted the invitation. Russia is among the 45 countries that recognized the Libyan rebel council as the only legitimate power in the country. The diplomat also said Russia was ready to take part in the UN peace-support mission in Libya. The Paris talks on Libya that brought together over 60 international delegations ended in a decision to release $15 billion out of Muammar Gaddafi's $50 billion in international assets. Margelov said that Russia was positive about the results of the talks as "all the participants were unanimous in accepting the UN's key role in settling the Libyan crisis." Russia's participation in the talks is a sign that Russia is open to relations with the new regime, Margelov said. The participants of the meeting, dubbed "friends of Libya," agreed to establish the eponymous group. The first meeting of the Friends of Libya Group is scheduled for the late September in New York.