Russia urge ‘restraint’ in Libya ahead of general election

Russia is calling upon all sides in Libya to show maximum restraint so that the people of Libya could execute their legitimate right to elect and be elected, Russian Deputy Envoy to the UN Gennady Kuzmin said.

The Libyan statehood was razed down to the ground for the sake of Western states’ ambitions, he told a UN Security Council meeting on the issue on Tuesday.

“The country that once used to prosper still lies in ruins, and needs to be restored bit by bit,” he said. “As for the civilian population, whom the good-doers from NATO tried to protect, it had to pass through the terrors of civil all-out war, utter chaos, total disarrangement and devastation.”

The diplomat noted that a decade passed before Libya “could spot some positive moments in its complicated process of political settlement.”

“Libya’s general elections are scheduled for 24 December. We call on all sides to demonstrate maximum restraint in order to make it possible for the long-suffering Libyan people to execute their legitimate right to elect and be elected,” Kuzmin said.

On November 22, Libya’s election commission stopped receiving registration bids from candidates in the upcoming presidential election. The vote is to take place on December 24, and will coincide with legislative polls.