Link to article: https://www.libyanexpress.com/libyas-political-crisis-can-only-be-resolved-through-elections-says-russian-ambassador/
Youssef Al-Aqouri, the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives for Libya, met with Aydar Aganin, Russia’s ambassador to Libya, to discuss ways to increase educational cooperation and come to a joint agreement in regards to civil safety. In this discussion, the two also discussed the political developments and electoral laws that were issued by Libya’s House of Representatives. Al-Aqouri and Libya demonstrated their dedication to strengthening relations with Russia. Given Russia’s power, he has hope that Russia will play a major role in the stability and peace of Libya. Aganin responded by emphasizing Russia’s desire to assist Libya in conducting elections. Russia is trying to facilitate and monitor the relations and cooperation between the two states through a consulate soon.
From Libya’s perspective, this cooperation benefits them immensely by having a larger power help structurize their country. Looking at Russia, many motivations could have led to this however. Having a strong ally will benefit them moving forward, but also having a sense of control over a country can lead to dependance and Libya potentially giving excessive support to Russia. For Libya’s election problems as a whole, Russia having their hand in them could create bias but also keep Libya from crumbling, which is an imminent fear. The timing comes as Russia is scrambling for support in their fight against Ukraine, therefore the timing seems to have come uncoincidentally. Looking regionally, The overall impact is minimal but could increase Russian support in the near future.
Libya is suffering from an Intrastate conflict, as its government is struggling to find a sense of unity and legitimacy. Russia is directly interfering but in a cooperative manner, attempting to bolster Libya’s security with their top officials. This relationship and approach to Libya’s internal problems will hopefully provide a quicker solution than that if Libya had no accepted external help. With a more stable government, internal security will evidently be stronger for the state. By solving this security issue, Libya will also have more room to focus on other priorities and issues within the country.