An unnamed senior Russian official was quoted on Tuesday as saying Muammar Gadddafi is ready to cede power in exchange for security guarantees.
| Thus the Russians send a signal to the Duck-Man... |
"The colonel is sending signals that he is ready to cede power in exchange for security guarantees," the respected business daily Kommersant quoted the official as saying.
| Cheez, the Russian papers now copy the New York Times on sourcing... |
The Russian source added that France appeared the country most willing to play a part by unfreezing some of the Gadddafi family's accounts and promising to help him avoid trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
The Kommersant report came a day after NATO's Rasmussen discussed Libya in Russia with President Dmitry Medvedev and South African President Jacob Zuma, fresh from an African Union summit that tried to forge a regional peace plan.
Russia has advocated the AU taking a leading role in negotiations to end the conflict, and Zuma, highly critical of NATO air raids, told Medvedev he hoped the alliance would better appreciate the AU's concerns.
One of the new elements in the road map agreed by the AU on Friday included provisions for a multinational peacekeeping force organised by the United Nations. But the rebels have thus far rejected the AU's settlement terms and Russia has also failed to convince Gadddafi to leave. |