Obama and Sarkozy asked Moscow to talk to Libya: Russia

Presidents Nicolas Sarkozy of France and Barack Obama of the United States asked Russia to serve as mediator in the Libyan conflict, a senior Russian official said at the G8 summit.

“They asked. Both Obama and Sarkozy,” said Mikhail Margelov, a senior Russian advisor on Africa travelling with President Dmitry Medvedev’s party to the rich world summit meeting in the French resort of Deauville.

Earlier, US and British officials had played down Russian claims to have been urged to adopt a role as a go-between between the international community and Moamer Kadhafi’s Libyan regime.

All the G8 leaders in Deauville have agreed a statement calling on Kadhafi to step down, and condemning his forces’ attacks on civilians, but Margelov said that: “There are hopes for a political settlement.”