Turkey announced that the Russian and Turkish presidents agreed to cooperate to stop the fighting in Libya, and a Turkish official said that the talks between the two countries were postponed due to the siege of the city of Sirte, while more mercenaries arrived via Russia to the forces of retired Major General Khalifa Hifter.

On Monday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşo -lu said that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish Recep Tayyip Erdogan had agreed to work jointly towards a ceasefire in Libya, and that there were no differences with Russia on technical issues.

Meanwhile, Reuters quoted a Turkish official - whom he did not name - that Russia and Turkey postponed their scheduled talks yesterday on stopping the fighting in Libya, because of a dispute regarding the effort of the National Accord government in Tripoli - backed by Ankara - to regain control of the coastal city of Sirte from forces Haftar backed by Russia.

After the postponement of the talks that were to be held yesterday in Istanbul with the participation of the Russian and Turkish foreign and defense ministers, the Turkish foreign minister spoke with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov and agreed by phone to continue the consultations in the coming days through their two deputies, and to hold the ministerial meeting at a later date.

The talks were expected to focus on the Libyan and Syrian files, and on the Russian S400 missile system, which Turkey acquired last year.

Foreign ministers of Russia (left) and Turkey in a previous meeting (Anatolia)

Mercenaries

Al-Jazeera correspondent in Libya quoted a military source from Al-Wefaq government today, confirming that mercenaries from Syria have been monitored by the Russian Wagner Company, to the fighting hubs west of Sirte to support Haftar's forces.

The source revealed that the forces of the Al-Wefaq government were stationed west of Sirte, awaiting the orders of the operations room to launch an attack on Haftar's forces, adding that the latter had bombed several axes west and south of Sirte, to block any ground progress.

In turn, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Al-Wefaq government announced the start of cooperation between the Libyan Mine Clearance Center and the military engineering teams and an Italian mission, with the aim of removing mines from southern Tripoli that Haftar's forces had planted before they fled.

The Foreign Ministry added on its Facebook page that this cooperation came based on coordination between the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Accord Government, Mohamed Siala, and the Italian Ambassador to Libya, Giuseppe Poceno.

The ministry stated that the reconciliation government is seeking to cooperate with other countries, especially Turkey, to clear all mines and ensure a safe return of citizens to their homes.