Turkey and Russia postpone Sunday's ministerial meeting on Libya

The Turkish government has announced that the meeting with the Russian defence and foreign ministers that was to take place this Sunday in Istanbul to discuss the Libyan civil war, where the two countries support opposing sides, has been postponed without a specific date. "In a telephone conversation today between our (Foreign) Minister Mevlüt Çavusoglu and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, it has been decided that contacts and talks will continue in the near future," Turkey's Foreign Minister said in a statement. "The ministerial-level conversation will be held at a future date," the note added, which does not give further details on the reason for the cancellation.

Turkey had confirmed last night that Russian Foreign and Defence Ministers Sergey Lavrov and Sergey Shoigou would participate today in a high-level meeting, in which, according to the Turkish media, Çavusoglu and Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar would also be present. Turkey, which supports the UN-recognised National Accord Government (GNA) in Libya, has insisted in recent days on rejecting the ceasefire recently proposed by Egypt. Moscow, which supports the rebel general Khalifa Haftar, who has taken up arms against the GNA, has shown its support for the Egyptian plan.

Turkish support for the GNA, with military advisors and mercenaries, has helped reverse the course of the war in Libya and stopped Haftar's advance on Tripoli, where the UN-recognised executive is based.