Moscow, Apr 18: Russia’s permanent envoy to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin today accused alliance forces of violating the UN Security Council resolution over Libya, asking NATO to maintain the embargo on arms supplies to the conflict zone.
“More and more European states are declaring support for the Libyan rebels. We request to stop violating the UN Security Council resolution, especially its clause imposing an embargo on arms supplies to the conflict zone,” Rogozin told RIA Novosti news agency.
“No one has ever succeeded in extinguishing a fire with kerosene,” he said.
“Getting more and more entangled in the Libyan crisis, certain Western states have started speculating about the possibility of a ground operation, which would probably be introduced as an operation to secure humanitarian convoys,” Rogozin said here.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov earlier warned that weapons supplies and ground operations in Libya, regardless of reasons or causes, would be a breach of the Security Council’s resolution.
Rogozin’s remarks come in the wake of recent rumours that France was pushing EU countries to the ground campaign in Libya by sending an EU humanitarian-military mission to the troubled North African state.
However, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe has ruled out any military role for the EU humanitarian mission.
The UN Security Council adopted a resolution imposing a no-fly zone over Libya on March 17, paving the way for a military operation against embattled Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi which began two days later. The command of the operation was shifted from a US-led international coalition to NATO in late March.
Despite dozens of sorties carried out by NATO aircraft against Gaddafi’s forces, the government troops maintain their combat capability and continue to pound poorly-equipped rebels with heavy artillery and rocket fire.
