Russian officials have warned against military intervention in Libya without United Nations sanction.
The U.N. Security Council alone had the right to authorise the use of force in Libya, said Russia's NATO envoy Dmitry Rogozin.
“If would be a grave blunder for Washington to attempt a blitzkrieg in Libya,” Mr. Rogozin told the Interfax wire service. “Any use of force outside the NATO zone of responsibility would be a breach of international law. NATO cannot usurp the right to use force in Libya.”
Foreign intervention may kill the burgeoning democracy in the Arab world, said Mikhail Margelov, head of the International Affairs Committee of the Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian Parliament.
“Military action could have the same result as the ‘push for democracy' in Iraq. This would kill the shoots of democracy in the region,” Mr. Margelov was quoted as saying on Tuesday.
The Russian parliamentarian saw signs of “double standards” in the West's stance on Libya.
“Europe and America are far more concerned about oil and gas supplies than about human rights and democracy in North Africa and the Middle East,” he said.
