GNA trying to blackmail Russia with researchers' card

A leaked audio of the head of the so-called Libyan State Council, Khaled al-Meshari, revealed recently growing interest inside the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) in winning over Russia.

New direction

The audio gives insights into expected diplomatic actions by the GNA.

It talks about a phone conversation between al-Meshri and the head of the Foundation for National Values Protection, a nonprofit organization working to protect the national interests of the Russian Federation, Yunis Abazid.

Abazid asks al-Meshri at the beginning of the conversation to release Russian researchers arrested by the GNA in mid-2019.

Al-Meshri then says that he had talked to GNA Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj who told him that the two researchers had testified that they work for Seif al-Islam Gaddafi and have contacts with the commander of the National Libyan Army (LNA) Khalifa Haftar.

Blackmail

Al-Meshri apparently tries in the conversation to blackmail Abazid. He says the GNA is ready to settle the issue of the Russian researchers away from the Libyan judiciary, provided that he helps al-Sarraj meet Russian President Vladimir Putin. Following the meeting, he says, Mr Putin has to issue a statement in which he declares support to the GNA.

However, Abazid tells al-Meshri that he cannot organize a meeting between al-Sarraj and the Russian president.

He tells al-Meshri that the Russian researchers had already contacted Gaddafi and Haftar, but within the research they were conducting.

Al-Meshri then says that the GNA is ready to release the two researchers in return for Moscow's support for al-Sarraj.

"They are treated well," al-Meshri tells Abazid in the conversation.

He adds that the GNA will not seek any media escalation on the issue.

"We are keen that the issue is not referred to the judiciary," al-Meshri says. "We will try to settle the issue in a cordial way."