While NATO foreign ministers ended their meeting in Berlin on Friday with a show of unity in the military campaign against Libya, the two-day summit had exposed further cracks in the alliance — and now questions are being asked about whether NATO’s air strikes are being ramped up from protecting civilians to all-out regime change.
Russia, which isn’t involved in the campaign, is particularly wary of any signs of mission creep and reiterated its calls for a political solution to the Libyan conflict.”We believe it is important to transfer the situation into the political field and proceed with a political and diplomatic settlement,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a news conference in Berlin on Friday. “The UN has not authorized regime change,” he added pointedly, warning the alliance not to use excessive force.
