Muammar Gaddafi's regime told visiting Russian envoy Mikhail Margelov on Thursday that the embattled Libyan leader is 'not ready' to go, despite growing calls for him to quit and a months-long uprising.
Gaddafi's son Seif al-Islam said elections were the only way to break the stalemate.
Russian news agencies carried the statement made by Margelov, the Africa envoy of president Dmitry Medvedev, after talks in Tripoli with the Libyan foreign minister, Abdelati al-Obeidi.
'I spoke to the foreign minister of Libya, and the minister said that according to him, Gaddafi is not ready to leave,' Margelov was quoted as saying.
'In response to a direct question about whether Gaddafi is ready to give up political power after the announcement of a ceasefire or just after its entry into force, the foreign minister told me that (Gaddafi) was not ready' to do so, he added.
Margelov's spokeswoman Varvara Paal said in Moscow the envoy during his one-day visit would meet prime minister Baghdadi al-Mahmudi and the foreign minister, but was not scheduled to meet Gaddafi himself.
He reiterated Moscow's call for Gaddafi to go and stressed 'nobody wants him dead... he can remain living in Libya in private and security can be ensured by the tribes from which he came.'
Margelov, who last week travelled to the Libyan rebel stronghold of Benghazi, has said Russia would be prepared to offer a preliminary 'roadmap' for settling the conflict.
source:NewAge
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