Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi has a 'suicidal plan' to blow up the capital Tripoli if it is taken by rebels, the Kremlin's special envoy to Libya has revealed.
Mikhail Margelov said in an interview with the Izvestia daily: 'The Libyan premier told me: "If the rebels seize the city, we will cover it with missiles and blow it up".'
Mr Margelov met Libyan Prime Minister Baghdadi al-Mahmudi last month.
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| Colonel Gaddafi has vowed to defend Tripoli with missiles |
Adding that Gaddafi still had plentiful supplies of missiles and ammunition, Mr Margelov said: 'I imagine that the Gaddafi regime does have such a suicidal plan.'
But the Russian diplomat, who has had rare access to senior Libyan officials, questioned reports that Gaddafi could be running out of arms in the drawn-out conflict - pointing out that the dictator had still not used a single surface-to-surface missile.
He said: 'Tripoli theoretically could lack ammunition for tanks, cartridges for rifles. But the colonel has got plenty of missiles and explosives.'
Mr Margelov met the Libyan prime minister on June 16 in Tripoli after holding talks in Benghazi earlier the same month. He has not met Gaddafi himself.
Russia abstained from a vote on a March UN Security Council resolution that opened the way for foreign involvement and has since criticised the campaign - particularly arms drops by France.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday for talks on Libya, where Mr Lavrov sought to play down differences between the countries.
However, the Russian foreign ministry said earlier on Wednesday that Moscow would not take part in talks on Libya later this week in Turkey, which has also seen itself as a mediator in the conflict.
© Daily Mail, London |
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