Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the participants of the Paris International Conference for Libya confirmed the need to withdraw foreign troops from Libyan territory gradually and smoothly.
“The withdrawal should be complete, at the same time it should be performed in stages, gradually, and it has to be synchronized in terms of withdrawing those who support Libya’s west and those who support [its] east,” Lavrov told journalists on Friday.
According to the Russian top diplomat, this approach will allow preserving the balance of forces thanks to which Libya has managed to maintain a truce for over a year.
The foreign minister noted that previous agreements on Libya were upheld at the conference.
“As for the withdrawal of foreign military groups, armed forces and so on, then the decision made today upheld the formula contained in the final document of the Berlin conference this July and the formula that literally a couple of weeks ago, Libya’s Joint Military Commission, the so-called 5+5, recorded in its decisions,” the diplomat said.