MOSCOW – President Dmitry Medvedev banned Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and his family from Russia and from carrying out financial transactions in the country, the Kremlin said on Monday. The Kremlin chief added Gaddafi and his family to a list of banned people from Russia in a decree signed on March 10. Russia has strictly opposed military invention in Libya, and has warned world powers against meddling in the affairs of the north African country.
The Kremlin has not ruled out a no-fly zone, which Britain and France have been pushing, saying that any such moves must be made after seeking cooperation from the U.N. Security Council, where Russia holds a veto-yielding power. Moscow could use its clout, siding with fellow permanent U.N. Security Council member China, to temper Western policy and influence global actions, as it has done with Iran in an eight-year-long stand-off over its disputed nuclear activity.
