TRIPOLI, Jun 26 — . Moscow restored its presence in Libya after a nine-year break, the new Russian ambassador to Tripoli, Aidar Aganin, presented his credentials to the head of the Presidential Council of the country, Mohammed al-Menfi, the correspondent said.
“The diplomatic presence in this country has been fully restored. Now we will work to strengthen our traditionally friendly relations,” the Russian diplomat said.
The Russian Embassy was forced to leave Libya in the summer of 2014 after the start of an acute phase of confrontation in the country. All this time, the diplomatic mission worked from Tunisia.
«Now the security conditions have become many times better. You see, there are no hostilities, the country has actually moved to a phase of peaceful development, disagreements between Libyan politicians are being resolved through dialogue,» Aganin said.
The ambassador added that since September 2022, an advanced group of Russian diplomats has been working in Tripoli, which was preparing for the resumption of the work of the embassy.
Aganin was appointed ambassador to Libya at the end of December last year by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
After the overthrow and the assassination of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libya ceased to function as a single state. In recent years, there has been a confrontation between the authorities in Tripoli in the west of the country and the authorities in the east, which were supported by the Libyan National Army under the command of Marshal Khalifa Haftar. In 2021, the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum in Geneva, under the auspices of the UN, elected a transitional executive until the general elections, which have not yet been held.
Now there are two non-recognizing governments in Libya. The first, backed by the UN and led by Abdelhamid Dbeiba, is based in Tripoli. The second — vested with the powers of the House of Representatives — is based in Sirte, after the removal of Fathi Bashagi, it is temporarily led by Osama Hamad.