The Coronavirus pandemic affected all aspects of life in Europe, and politics were no exception, but the European Union is still trying to support efforts to implement the arms embargo imposed on Libya through the new naval operation IRENE that replaced Sophia.
The IRENE mission faces a threat from Moscow, which the United Nations has requested to be given a mandate to implement the embargo, and at the same time the new EU process in the Mediterranean can only begin if the Security Council gives its approval, amid warning by Moscow that it will create problems if it does not get informed in a timely manner, according to Russian Ambassador to the European Union Vladimir Shishov.
Shishov’s remarks came as European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell was preparing to meet with members of the European Union on Monday for the first time via video due to Coronavirus, with the aim of discussing the continued monitoring of the embargo that has caused intense European internal discussions in relevant Brussels bodies in recent days, according to the German newspaper WELT.
After the failure of the UN-led Geneva talks among the parties to the conflict in Libya, and despite the fact that the outbreak of Coronavirus disrupted life in the world, Libya remains the only country free of the virus of concern to the international community at a time when Turkey violated the arms embargo and sent mercenaries repeatedly despite the outbreak of the epidemic.
