Joint work on truce in Libya urged

A joint statement on Wednesday from Russia and Turkey calling for a cease-fire in Libya may lead to resolution of the conflict between government forces and east-based militias.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan have backed different sides in the country's long conflict.

Turkey backs Fayez al-Serraj's Tripoli-based, United Nations-recognized Government of National Accord, or GNA, and has said it will send military advisers and troops to reinforce its support, while Russian military contractors have been deployed alongside General Khalifa Haftar's eastern-based Libyan National Army, or LNA.

The GNA said on Wednesday it welcomed any "serious call" to return to political talks, without addressing the cease-fire call directly.

The UN has been leading efforts for months to pave the way for a truce and political negotiations in Libya, a major oil and gas producer, with few visible signs of progress.

"Today our President Erdogan and Russian head of state Putin are making a call for a truce in Libya, starting from midnight on Jan 12, the night from Saturday to Sunday," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced. His Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, confirmed the details.

The Libya conflict is undermining regional security and "triggering irregular migration, further spread of weapons, terrorism and other criminal activities including illicit trafficking", the joint statement said.

The call for cease-fire is aimed at supporting a resumption of UN-backed negotiations between the warring parties and facilitating further talks in Berlin, according to the statement.

It is not clear how much Russia and Turkey can influence events on the ground, but Putin and Erdogan have met regularly to discuss military deployments in Syria, and have also declared Libya policy a priority to prevent further conflict in the Eastern Mediterranean region.

The UN said it welcomed recent cease-fire calls, including that from Turkey and Russia, and urged the Libyan parties to respond positively.

However, Cavusoglu said on Monday Turkish military experts and technical teams would support Libya's UN-recognized government, a day after Erdogan said Turkish military units were moving to Tripoli.

Turkey's decision to send troops was condemned immediately by the European Union, which said foreign interference in Libya was exacerbating instability.

Putin took the cease-fire initiative with Erdogan during his visit to Turkey, where the two presidents met and presided over a ceremony to inaugurate the TurkStream gas pipeline in Istanbul.

Russia is building TurkStream and doubling the capacity of Nord-Stream across the Baltic Sea to Germany as part of plans to bypass Ukraine in its gas deliveries to Europe.

Russian gas has begun to be delivered to Bulgaria, as well as Greece and North Macedonia, through the new entry point from Turkey via the new gas pipeline, said Vladimir Malinov, the CEO of Bulgarian gas transmission and storage operator Bulgartransgaz.

Russian gas producer Gazprom started shipping gas to Bulgaria via TurkStream on Jan 1, replacing a route that formerly passed through Ukraine and Romania.

The Russian company shipped about 3 billion cubic meters of gas to Greece via that route last year. TurkStream natural gas pipeline project is considered a further step in Turkish and Russian relations in terms of energy.