On 19 August, Government of National Unity Minister of Foreign Affairs, Najla Mangoush, met with the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow. In a press conference, Lavrov appealed to the ‘friendship and cooperation’ between the two countries and spoke of supporting Libya to move towards a ‘final settlement through national reconciliation and the construction of a stable, prosperous state’. For her part, Mangoush stressed the GNU’s desire for favourable relations between the two countries represented by the signing of joint agreements and memoranda, as well as the reopening of the Russian Embassy in Tripoli and Consulate in Benghazi. According to the statement issued by the GNU Ministry of Foreign Affairs, both sides agreed on the necessity to establish a timetable for the ‘gradual and balanced’ withdrawal of foreign mercenaries from Libya.
