Russia confirmed on Friday that Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov would visit Libya on May 6-7, reported Reuters.
A brief foreign ministry statement, which followed news agency reports, contained no further details.
Russia is making efforts to restore ties with old Soviet allies, which also include countries like Iraq, Iran and North Korea, which are described by Washington as "rogue states".
Earlier this year, the United Nations lifted sanctions imposed on Libya after the 1988 Lockerbie bombing of a Pan Am flight over Scotland in which 270 people died. Libya remains on a US blacklist of "state sponsors of terrorism."
Russian President Vladimir Putin has visited North Korea, and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is expected in Moscow later this year. Senior Russian officials have visited Iran and Iraq.
Ivanov's visit would come amid a standoff between Moscow and Washington over US plans for a national missile defense system aimed at neutralizing the threat from "rogue states,” said the agency.
Libya is mobilizing international support for its stand, and is going on with an appeal against the Lockerbie verdict.
The lawyer of Abdulbaset Al Migrahi, who received a life sentence for his role in the bombing, told Albawaba.com that Tripoli had gathered all the necessary evidence to prove the Libyan's innocence.
Lawyer Ibrahim Al Gwail expressed fears that external pressures on the court that might push it away from fairness, as he claimed happened in the last stages of the first trial.
Scotland’s Higher Court of Justice will allow the lawyers of Migrahi six more weeks to prepare their documents for the appeal.
The lawyers submitted their first request for an extension on March 9, and were granted a six-week extension that ended Wednesday – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
