Earlier, the two opposing governments in Libya struck a ceasefire deal that began at midnight local time on January 12.
The head of the Libyan National Army (LNA), Marshal Khalifa Haftar, has arrived in Moscow, where he could hold talks with Prime Minister of the Government of National Accord (GNA) of Libya Fayez Sarraj, a Libyan informed source said.
According to the source, Sarraj will arrive in Moscow on Monday.
“Khalifa Haftar has already arrived in Moscow. Sarraj will arrive there on Monday. They are expected to have negotiations in Moscow,” the source added.
Earlier, the head of the Russian Contact Group for intra-Libyan settlement Lev Dengov said that Sarraj and Haftar might visit Moscow in the nearest future to discuss a settlement to the conflict in Libya.
“According to my sources, the Libyan GNA Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj and the head of the GNA Supreme State Council Khaled Mishri will soon arrive in Moscow for negotiations, which will focus on the conditions for further settlement in Libya. They will also discuss the possibility of signing a ceasefire agreement and details of such a document,” Dengov said.
“The head of the LNA, Khalifa Haftar and the eastern-based Libyan parliament’s speaker, Aguila Saleh, will also arrive in Moscow to negotiate on the same topic,” the Russian diplomat added.
According to Dengov, it is yet unknown whether Sarraj and Haftar would be meeting in person.
“However they will meet with the Russian authorities individually, as well as with representatives of the Turkish delegation, which is cooperating with Russia in this area. Most likely, representatives of the UAE and Egypt will act as observers during the talks,” the official said.
The latest Russia-Turkey brokered ceasefire came into effect at midnight on Sunday. Later, the GNA accused the other party of breaching the ceasefire minutes after it came into force, but Turkey stated that the truce was generally being observed.
On Wednesday, Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin called for a comprehensive ceasefire in Libya starting at midnight on 12 January. They also urged all conflict parties to begin negotiations.
The situation in Libya has been tense in the past few weeks, after Haftar ordered his troops to advance on the Libyan capital of Tripoli, controlled by the UN-recognised GNA. Libya has been in a state of civil war since the ouster and assassination of the then-leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The country is now divided between two centres of power: an elected parliament in the country’s east, and the UN-backed GNA in the west.
