The main aim of a pending meeting between Russia and the Libyan opposition is to gain a ceasefire in Libya, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday.
Lavrov will hold a meeting Monday evening with former Libyan foreign minister Abdul-Rahman Shalgam, an envoy of the opposition's Interim Transitional National Council.
"We try to facilitate an earlier end of bloodshed and armed conflict by all those involved," Lavrov said at a news conference.
He said ceasefire, truce, dialogue and agreements were "unavoidable" in Libya, adding "all must end in this way, the sooner the better."
NATO said its air campaign had rolled back the ability of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's forces to attack the opposition fighters and their supporters, and had effectively forced Gaddafi himself into hiding.
However, the three-month conflict seems to have reached in a deadlock, as the opposition controls the east part of Libya and some of the west but cannot advance westward further to the capital of Tripoli.
"We support the initiatives of the African Union and the UN," Lavrov said.
Last week, Lavrov met representatives of the Libyan government and the UN special envoy to Libya.