AA

Russia’s growing presence in the Eastern Mediterranean region is a cause for concern for NATO, the military alliance’s chief said on Tuesday.

“NATO is also concerned about the increased Russian presence in the eastern Mediterranean in general, in Syria, but also, of course, in Libya. And we have to follow and monitor that very closely,” Jens Stoltenberg said in response to a question in an online news conference ahead of the NATO defense ministers meeting on June 17-18.

He said the situation in Libya was not on the meeting agenda, but could be discussed, adding: “It has a direct impact on the security of especially our southern allies, but actually for the whole of NATO.”

The alliance supports the UN-led efforts in Libya, he stressed, and called for an investigation into the mass graves found in Tarhuna, a city in the country’s northwest recently liberated from warlord Khalifa Haftar’s control.

Click here to read the full article.