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Russia not invited to Paris meeting on Libya

Xinhua, August 26, 2011

• The Russian Foreign Ministry said Thursday that it wasn't invited by France to participate in an international conference on the Libyan situation.

  French President Nicolas Sarkozy was quoted Wednesday as saying that he had invited countries who see themselves as "friends of Libya" to the high-level talks in Paris on Sept. 1, to discuss the future of the country without Muammar Gaddafi.

  Sarkozy said member countries of the Contact Group on Libya, involving participants in the NATO-led military operation in Libya and representatives of the United Nations, the Arab League and the African Union, were invited to the talks, along with China, Russia, India and Brazil, countries that have expressed concerns over the operation.

  "We have not seen such an invitation," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich told journalists.

  He said that Russia insists the United Nations and the U.N. Security Council, rather than any other structures, should play the central role in the political settlement in Libya.

  The Russian diplomat also warned that it was still early to speak about "the end of a military confrontation" in Libya.

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