Russia recognizes rebel Libyan government
September 1, 2011
Representatives of 60 nations recently met with the leaders of the Libyan rebel Transitional National Council to discuss plans to rebuild the government in Libya. Among those present were Russia, China and Germany, even though they opposed NATO's bombing campaign when the rebels took the Gaddhafi compound a few weeks ago. According to The New York Times, Russian president Dmitri Medvedev said that his government would not step in until it was clear that the Libyan people were united under rebel leadership.
"Our country established and has maintained diplomatic relations with Libya since September 4, 1955, and has never broken them regardless of what kind of government was in power in Tripoli," said Russia's Foreign Ministry in a statement, according to the news source.
Now, the Russian government has claimed to support the Transitional National Council as the established leadership in Libya. The Washington Post reports that when the United Nations voted to allow foreign military intervention in March, Russia did not stand in the way, even though the country was allied with Gaddafi at the time.
People can use international phone cards to make calls to Russia to talk about the nation's involvement in the Libyan governmental struggle.