Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend an international conference on the Libyan peace process in Berlin this weekend, the Kremlin announced on Friday, Eurasia Diary reports citing Gulf Times.
Russia expects progress at the conference, to be hosted by German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday, less than a week after peace talks in Moscow failed to secure a deal.
The Berlin conference is intended to solidify agreement on a ceasefire that went into effect last weekend for the war-torn northern African country.
"It is most important that the ceasefire is observed," Russia's top diplomat, Sergei Lavrov, told reporters in Moscow on Friday. He described the truce as a "certain step forward." Libyan General Khalifa Haftar had left the Moscow talks without signing the ceasefire deal. Germany's top diplomat, Heiko Maas, who subsequently visited Libya this week, said Haftar had tacitly agreed to the truce.
According to an internal UN document, the conference is to work towards a permanent ceasefire and the implementation of an existing weapons embargo.
In addition, representatives from more than ten countries are expected to commit on Sunday to return to a political process in Libya and to agree to comply with international humanitarian law and human rights.