Russia drafts UN resolution to secure Libyan arms stockpiles

Russia is planning to introduce next week a draft UN resolution aimed at securing Libyan weapons stockpiles accumulated during Muammar Gaddafi's rule, Russia's UN envoy Vitaly Churkin said. "This is a separate project that we have been working on, and we are looking forward to its adoption next week," Churkin told Russian journalists in Brussels late on Friday. Russia is concerned about the fact that in the situation of conflict in Libya, a large amount of weapons, including shoulder-fired missiles, "have been left up for grabs, [arms] depots have been robbed and arms have been flowing beyond the Libyan territory." The draft resolution may be introduced to the UN Security Council on Monday, Churkin said. Since the beginning of the unrest in Libya in February, there have been fears that militants could seize some of the estimated 20,000 shoulder-launched missiles from unguarded depots. Russia had been a traditional arms supplier for Libya since Soviet times until the beginning of the anti-Gaddafi uprising in February. Gaddafi, who had ruled Libya for 42 years, was captured by National Transitional Council (NTC) soldiers near his home town of Sirte on Thursday. He was later shot and died of his wounds.