Russia working on immediate Libya ceasefire with Turkey

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Jets hit Libya's al-Watiya airbase where Turkey may build base, sources say

Russia and Turkey are working on an immediate ceasefire agreement for the conflict in Libya, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on July 8.

Lavrov said the Libyan National Army (LNA), which Russia backs, is ready to sign a ceasefire document and hopes that Turkey will manage to convince the country's internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) to do the same.

"At some stage, when we invited the main protagonists, gentlemen [Khalifa] Haftar, [Fayez] Sarraj, [Aguila] Saleh, in January this year ahead of the Berlin conference — the Libyan National Army thought its positions on the ground to be more favorable and was not ready to sign a document that Sarraj considered acceptable," Lavrov said.

"Now, the LNA, according to our assessments, is ready to sign such a document on immediate ceasefire, but this time it is the Tripoli government who does not want to do it, counting on the military solution," he added.

The foreign minister expressed his regret that although all sides declare that there is no military solution to the Libyan conflict, this does not translate into practical steps.

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