MOSCOW. March 12 (Interfax) - Federation Council Defense and Security Committee Chairman Viktor Ozerov thinks no hasty conclusions should be drawn from the Libyan prime minister's statement that Russian contracts in Libya will not be resumed automatically but will be tested for corruption.
"I'd rather not jump to conclusions on statements of the new Libyan authorities. I'd also disagree with those who claim that Russia has lost Libya," he told Interfax.
He noted that Libyan Prime Minister Abd al-Rahim al-Keeb made the statement during his visit to the United States. He also said that the United States actively supported the Libyan opposition.
"Contracts must have specified conditions under which a party may secede or review contract terms," Ozerov said.
If a contract says it may be checked for transparency, more transparency will be beneficial both for Libya and Russia, he said.
"If there are no such provisions in a contract but the Libyan authorities insist on reviewing it, that would disagree with international laws and have relevant consequences," he said.
The new Libyan authorities said many times that they did not plan to review contracts signed with Russia in the Muammar Gaddafi rule.
"We hope that the new Libyan authorities will evaluate the contracts and agreements exclusively by their technical and economic parameters, rather than by political criteria. That principle applies to the oil sector, military-technical cooperation and the construction of a railroad line," he said.
At the same time, the majority of incumbent officials of Tripoli are proteges of the West, which means they will mostly buy Western armaments, he said.
Libya may fully switch to Western weaponry now, he added.
Hence it would be necessary to consider governmental compensations to the Russian defense plants working for Libyan contracts, he said.