Vladimir Putin is considering running for a new term as Russia’s president if voters approve constitutional changes that would enable him to do so, Russian news agencies quoted him as saying in an interview on Sunday.Russia will hold a nationwide vote from June 25 to July 1 on proposed changes to the constitution, including an amendment that would allow Putin to seek two more six-year terms as president when his current mandate ends in 2024.Opponents say the reforms are designed to allow Putin to keep power until 2036 and amount to a constitutional coup. The Kremlin says they are needed to strengthen the role of parliament and improve social policy and public administration.”I do not rule out the possibility of running for office, if this (option) comes up in the constitution. We’ll see,” Putin was quoted as saying in an interview with state TV that was shown in Russia’s far east before airing in western Russia. “I have not decided anything for myself yet.”The changes that Russians will vote on, already approved by parliament and the Constitutional Court, would reset Putin’s presidential term tally to zero. He would not be able to seek a new term under current constitutional limits.The changes are widely expected to be approved in the vote.Putin, who has been in power for two decades and is now 67, suggested the hunt for a candidate to succeed him could become a distraction if he does not run again.”If this doesn’t happen, then in about two years – and I know this from personal experience – the normal rhythm of work of many parts of government will be replaced by a search for possible successors,” Interfax news agency cited him as saying.”We must be working, not looking for successors,” he said. 
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Minneapolis police tweeted early Sunday: “10 people at area hospitals suffering from gunshot wounds. All are alive with various severity levels of injuries.”An earlier tweeted warned people to avoid the Uptown Minneapolis area.The Associated Press reports video of the aftermath of the shootings has been posted on Facebook, showing victims on the ground and police attending to them.Minneapolis has been in the news in recent days because it is the site where George Floyd, an African American man, died after a white police officer pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck.Minneapolis erupted in demonstrations and rioting after Floyd’s death, sparking demonstrations against racism around the world.  
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The number of global COVID-19 cases continues to rise.There are more than 8.7 million global infections.With more than 2.2 million cases, the U.S. has more infections than anywhere else in the world.Brazil and Russia follow with more than 1 million and more than 576,000 infections, respectively.The U.S. also leads the world in COVID deaths with nearly 120,000, according to Johns Hopkins University.Six members of U.S. President Donald Trump’s campaign advance team have contracted the coronavirus. The announcement was made Saturday just hours before the president’s Tulsa, Oklahoma, campaign rally, his first since the country went on lockdown because of the coronavirus.At the rally, the president joked that the U.S. infection numbers are high because of extensive testing. “When you do testing to that extent, you’re going to find more cases,” he said. “So, I said to my people, ‘Slow the testing down.’ They test and they test.” The White House later issued a clarification of the president’s remarks, insisting he was joking.South Korea reported 48 new coronavirus cases Sunday, half of them in Seoul, the capital. China recorded 25 new cases and like South Korea, most of China’s cases were found in its capital, Beijing. Both countries had launched strict measures to bring the virus under control, but outbreaks are reappearing after they eased restrictions.World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned last week that the pandemic is accelerating. “We are in a new and dangerous phase,” Tedros said. He warned that lockdown measures are still needed to halt the spread of the virus.
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As Malaysia’s economy start to reopen analysts say the movement restrictions the country took to limit the spread of the coronavirus should also help it recover from the financial downturn it now faces. As Dave Grunebaum reports, Malaysians are balancing economic uncertainties with an upbeat feeling about getting a step closer to their normal routines.
Camera: Dave Grunebaum
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President Donald Trump held a campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Saturday evening, his first since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.The event was designed to be a show of political force to reenergize his base ahead of the November election but was marked by coronavirus fears and a lower-than-expected turnout.Declaring “the silent majority is stronger than ever before,” Trump called his supporters “warriors” and hit on familiar campaign themes, including conservative judicial appointees, low taxes, the booming stock market, the wall on the southern border with Mexico, and ramping up the military budget. The 1-hour, 40-minute speech was full of attacks on his Democratic rival and presidential nominee-in-waiting Joe Biden, the “radical left” and “fake news.”Trump defended his administration’s handling of the pandemic, blaming the high numbers —  over 2.2 million coronavirus cases and 119,000 deaths nationwide — on extensive coronavirus testing.“When you do testing to that extent, you’re gonna find more people, you’re gonna find more cases. So, I said to my people, slow the testing down, please,” Trump said, adding that his administration “saved millions of lives.”A White House official clarified Trump’s comment after the rally. “He was clearly speaking in jest to call out the media’s absurd coverage. We are leading the world in testing, and we are proud to have conducted 25 million-plus tests,” the official said in a statement.While Trump has often referred to the coronavirus as the “Chinese virus.” For the first time he referred to it publicly as the “kung-flu” and blamed Beijing for the pandemic.Ridiculing calls by some on the left to defund the police, Trump brought back the racially charged term “hombre.”“It’s 1 o’clock in the morning,” Trump said. “A very tough hombre is breaking into the window of a woman whose husband is away as a traveling salesman or whatever he may do. You call 911, and they say, ‘I’m sorry, this number is no longer working.’”Trump first used the term during the 2016 election campaign when he labeled people who came to the U.S. illegally “bad hombres” and called for their deportation.In a speech that mostly focused on domestic issues, Trump boasted about the killing of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps major general Qassem Soleimani. He mentioned China at least 11 times, mostly in the context of laying blame for the pandemic and the trade war, and calling presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden “a puppet for China.”The president disparaged the Black Lives Matter movement and media coverage of the protests that have rocked the country for weeks since the May 25 death of George Floyd, a black man who died while in the custody of Minnesota police officers.President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the BOK Center, June 20, 2020, in Tulsa, Okla.“They never talk about COVID,” Trump said. “You see 25,000 people walking down Fifth Avenue or walking down the street of a Democrat-run city, you never hear them saying they’re not wearing the mask,” he said.Slamming movements across the country aiming to remove or replace monuments honoring Confederate generals, Trump told supporters, “This cruel campaign of censorship and exclusion violates everything we hold dear as Americans. They want to demolish our heritage so they can impose a new oppressive regime it its place.”Trump took pains to rebut negative coverage and speculation about his health after his recent appearance at West Point, where he appeared to walk with difficulty down a ramp and used both hands to drink from a glass of water.“The stage was higher than this one and the ramp was probably 10 yards long,” Trump said, likening it to “an ice skating rink.” Saying that his arm was tired from “saluting 600 times” and wanting to avoid spilling water on his silk tie, Trump reenacted drinking from a glass, tossing it aside afterwards to cheers from the crowd.Lower-than-expected turnoutThe Trump campaign canceled speeches from both the president and the vice president to supporters outside the BOK Center as attendance appeared to fall short of expectations. The campaign had hyped the dual speeches from each leader to highlight the massive turnout they were expecting in Tulsa.Steve Phillips, founder of Democracy in Color, a political organization focused on race and politics, and host of a podcast by the same name, called the turnout “embarrassingly small.”Trump’s “high-wire act of defying the political laws of gravity by relying on the support of white nationalism and racial fears is finally crashing to the ground,” said Phillips in an email to VOA. “Even hardcore Trump supporters are not willing to enter a COVID-19 death chamber just to assuage Trump’s ego and make him feel better.”President Donald Trump supporters listen to Trump speak during a campaign rally at the BOK Center, June 20, 2020, in Tulsa, Okla.The campaign blamed protesters and the media for the low turnout. “Sadly, protesters interfered with supporters, even blocking access to the metal detectors, which prevented people from entering the rally. Radical protesters, coupled with a relentless onslaught from the media, attempted to frighten off the President’s supporters,” said campaign spokesperson Tim Murtaugh in a statement released before the event.Reporters on the scene denied Murtaugh’s account that large groups of people were turned away by protesters.Our @CBSNews team stood at the W Fourth St security barricade for over an hour and watched as state police & national guardsmen blocked it. Trump supporters expressed disappointment when the entrance closed, but none of them appeared shaken or intimidated by peaceful protesters. https://t.co/k12dgdIP9a— Nicole Sganga (@NicoleSganga) June 20, 2020Trump had said earlier in the week that the campaign had received nearly a million ticket requests for the rally.”No doubt, COVID-19 played a role in the depressed turnout,” said Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. But if Trump can’t fill an arena in a state he carried overwhelmingly, Sabato said, “you have to wonder how he’s going to fare in swing states that may have turned against him.”Still, the crowd cheered for Trump, who appeared energetic and eager to bolster a reelection effort battered by a pandemic and nationwide demonstrations against racism.Black comedian and Trump supporter Terrence K. Williams tweeted his support for the president from the rally arena, saying “we are all Americans” and that Trump rallies are for everyone. Yes we are BlackYes we support President TrumpPeople want to know why me, my big brother @DavidJHarrisJr & other blacks are at the rally BECAUSE ITS NOT ABOUT COLOR!WE ARE ALL AMERICANS President @realDonaldTrump rallies are for everyone #TulsaTrumpRally#TrumpTulsaRallypic.twitter.com/BsMVCHFSdG— Terrence K. Williams (@w_terrence) June 20, 2020 While Trump energized supporters in his Tulsa rally, the first since early March, Larry Sabato projected that the boost for his reelection will be small.“This election is a referendum on Donald Trump,” Sabato said. “Maybe rallies pump up the enthusiasm of the Trump troops, but the rallies could backfire if there’s a COVID-19 outbreak among the participants afterwards.”Pandemic fearsThe campaign conducted temperature checks and handed out face masks and hand sanitizer to anyone who wanted them. But many among the thousands of Trump supporters were not wearing masks as they cheered shoulder-to-shoulder for the president in an arena with a capacity of 19,000 people.Rally-goer Josie Saltarelli, 38, a paramedic from Tulsa, said she wasn’t worried about the coronavirus. “People die of other things all the time,” she said.The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Friday rejected a request by local residents that rally-goers be required to wear masks to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, ruling that the residents did not have a clear legal right to seek such a mandate.Prior to the rally, the campaign announced that six Trump campaign staff members who helped prepare for the event tested positive for the coronavirus. Murtaugh, the campaign spokesperson, said they would not attend the rally and would follow quarantine procedures.In a news conference on Wednesday, the city’s Republican mayor, G.T. Bynum, said he would not be attending Trump’s rally amid fears of the coronavirus.Rally-goers had to sign off on a legal disclaimer on the online registration page of the event acknowledging that they “voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to COVID-19 and agree not to hold Donald J. Trump for President, Inc.; BOK Center; ASM Global; or any of their affiliates, directors, officers, employees, agents, contractors, or volunteers liable for any illness or injury.”   
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Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi warned Saturday that Cairo would not allow militias fighting for Libya’s U.N.-recognized government in Tripoli to capture the coastal port town of Sirte or the al-Jufra airbase in central Libya.Sissi’s warning came as Tripoli-based Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj met with Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune amid diplomatic efforts to forestall a looming conflict over Sirte and oil installations farther east.SirteIn a speech to Egypt’s armed forces, el-Sissi insisted that Cairo would defend its security along a 1,200-kilometer common border with Libya, aided by friends and allies, including Libya’s traditional tribal forces.Call for cease-fireHe added that Egypt did not covet any Libyan territory and said its objective was to support security and stability inside Libya and prevent mercenaries and terrorists from entering Egypt. He called on forces from each of Libya’s rival governments to observe a cease-fire and begin negotiations toward a political settlement.At the same time Saturday, media loyal to eastern commander General Khalifa Haftar showed video of armored forces that they claimed were heading toward territory controlled by rivals west of Sirte.Meanwhile, Sarraj made a one-day visit to neighboring Algeria to discuss a possible mediation effort by Tebboune. The Algerian president met with the head of the Libyan parliament, Aquelah Salah, an ally of Haftar, earlier in the week.Sarraj vetoed an Egyptian proposal to hold an emergency session of the Arab League to discuss foreign intervention in Libya. Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said Saturday that Turkey has now sent 15,000 Syrian mercenaries to fight in Libya. VOA could not independently confirm the figure.A Turkish delegation met with Sarraj and his government several days ago, reportedly discussing a multibillion-dollar trade deal. Egypt, France and the United Arab Emirates, which support Haftar, are concerned about any oil drilling concessions granted by Sarraj to Turkey in the eastern Mediterranean.FILE – Khalifa Haftar, the military commander who dominates eastern Libya, arrives to attend an international conference on Libya at the Elysee Palace in Paris, May 29, 2018.Russian mercenariesThe U.S., at the same time, has said it is concerned about the presence of several thousand Russian mercenaries and a number of Russian warplanes now based at Haftar’s al-Jufra airbase.Khattar Abou Diab, who teaches at the University of Paris, told VOA that “France has tried to make the case with Washington that allowing Turkish forces a major foothold in Libya is a strategic mistake.”
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China unveiled the details Saturday of a planned national security law for Hong Kong that will allow the Communist Party to markedly expand its power in and tighten its control of the Asian financial hub.China’s top lawmaking body, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, wound up its meeting Saturday without the legislation being formally approved, though the details released by China’s official Xinhua News Agency prompted widespread unease among legal experts and analysts.China repeatedly has prompted Hong Kong leaders to enact legislation to plug the “loophole” of national security in the wake of the yearlong protests in Hong Kong sparked by a controversial extradition bill that could see individuals sent to China for trials.According to an explanation of the law released by Xinhua, a new national security commission headed by its Beijing-appointed top leader — but supervised by the Chinese government —  will be established in Hong Kong. Chinese security agents, which it says are required to follow Hong Kong laws, also will be stationed in the city to deal directly with some cases there.The release said an agency would be established to analyze the national security situation in Hong Kong and “monitor, supervise, coordinate and support” the local government’s efforts, collect intelligence and handle relevant cases.The release said the new legislation would grant power to Hong Kong’s top leader to choose judges to handle national security cases in the city — a move sharply criticized by legal experts as undermining the principle of the rule of law and the separation of powers.Basic LawAlthough Hong Kong reverted from British to Chinese rule in 1997, its post-handover mini-constitution, the Basic Law, safeguards the city’s basic freedoms and civil liberties, as well as the rule of law according to the common law tradition.Experts say the national security law, which the state media release says “will supersede local legislation should conflicts arise,” will effectively sabotage the rule of law. The statement added that the power of interpreting the new law is vested in the Chinese legislature’s top committee, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee.Echoing a senior Chinese official’s rhetoric from Monday, the statement says the enforcement of the national security law will be mainly carried out by Hong Kong authorities, except in “‘very few cases” where Beijing’s national security commissioner based in Hong Kong will retain jurisdiction.”[This will] manifest the central government’s comprehensive jurisdiction over Hong Kong, which will be beneficial for strengthening national security and avoiding emergency situations,” it reads.Tam Yiu Chung, Hong Kong’s representative to the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, speaks during an interview in Hong Kong, June 15, 2020.Tam Yiu Chung, Hong Kong’s sole member of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, told reporters the Chinese authorities would directly intervene only in “exceptional” circumstances, such as if unrest turned into war or the local government “became out of control.”The Xinhua statement says the draft also contains penalties for offenses relating to separatism, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces, but it did not give details.Tam said the jail sentences were likely to range from three years for minor cases to five to 10 years for more serious cases. He also said it was likely the law would not be retroactive.Additionally, the statement also said while Hong Kong’s police are to set up a special unit to enforce the national security law, the city’s department of justice will create a special prosecution unit for national security crimes.The law also will require the Hong Kong government to strengthen supervision and management of schools and other organizations on matters relating to national security.’Stabbing … like a sword’Civic Party leader Alvin Yeung, a barrister, said the details of the legislation show “Beijing’s power is stabbing right into Hong Kong’s judicial and administrative organs like a sword.””Hong Kong’s worst nightmare has been mapped out,” he said, adding that the lack of details on specific criminal actions was “extremely worrying.”Kenneth Chan, a political science professor at Hong Kong Baptist University, said Hong Kong’s top leader being empowered to choose judges to hear national security cases undermines the rule of law and violates the principle of independent judiciary.Jerome Cohen, a New York University law professor and Council on Foreign Relations senior fellow, said the Xinhua statement left many questions unanswered.“How are the national security crimes being defined? By what criteria will the [top leader] select judges, and why is this special system necessary?” he said.Although the Xinhua statement mentions that when enacting the law, Hong Kong authorities shall also “respect and protect human rights” and safeguard citizens’ rights and freedoms in accordance with the Basic Law and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Cohen called these “eye candies.” He pointed out “the very provisions in the national security law violate those protections.”“The handover has clearly become the takeover,” he said, referring to the Hong Kong’s 1997 handover of sovereignty.No ability to challenge lawMichael Davis, a Global Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center and former law professor at the University of Hong Kong, said it appeared that Hong Kong’s courts would not be able to contest the new legislation for possibilities of being unconstitutional.He also was worried about the fact that the law allows the Chinese government to select cases over which it will claim jurisdiction. “Whether this is a ‘rare case’ or not, it opens the door to the very sort of criminal justice people feared in opposing the extradition law,” he said.Political science expert Chan said, “We now see that the Basic Law and the institutional guarantees that are supposed to buttress the ‘one country, two systems’ policy is being dismantled by Beijing.”“The mainland Chinese practice of law and politics, which are not supposed to have any place in the city, now takes precedence in the name of national security, patriotism and sovereignty,” he said.Beijing reportedly wants to bring the law into force quickly, before the September election of the legislature, which currently is dominated by pro-Beijing lawmakers.  Analysts have said the authorities were wary that pro-democracy politicians could repeat the success they experienced in the district council election last November and garner more seats in the legislature in the wake of the anti-government movement.Chan said candidates who have opposed the national security law probably will be disqualified, as pro-Beijing politicians repeatedly have warned.“The world should care about [this development] because it means Hong Kong is being taken over by the communist system and fast becoming just another coastal city of China,” he said.
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Zimbabwe’s health minister was released from police custody Saturday on about $600 bail after being arrested the day before on corruption charges related to the illegal procurement of COVID-19 medical equipment.James Mutizwa, the attorney for Health Minister Obediah Moyo,  told journalists Saturday outside Magistrate Court in Harare, “Bail was granted. He is out on bail. No comment. Thank you.”Moyo is facing three counts of criminal abuse of office as a public official in relation to the procurement of material worth $60 million to fight COVID-19 in Zimbabwe.Following the arrest, a doctors group said it was worried about the abuse of COVID-19 funds.Dr. Nyika Mahachi, the president of Zimbabwe College of Public Health Physicians, said, “This is an unfortunate development. As an apolitical association, it is our interest in public health to ensure that resources that are allocated for COVID-19 response, health services or public services in general are used in a transparent and fair manner. … What we look forward to is a full understanding of the investigation of what really transpired to ensure that the culprits are brought to book, whoever they are.”Since coming to power in 2017, President Emmerson Mnangagwa has said he is committed to fighting corruption, which was associated with senior officials of the government of his predecessor, the late Robert Mugabe.Information Ministry Secretary Nick Mangwana issued a statement Saturday saying, “The biggest mistake I can ever make as a public officer is to doubt President Mnangagwa’s commitment to fighting graft. He has made it clear to us that we are not immune from prosecution and nobody will be insulated from having their day in court.”Moyo is expected back in court this month, when he could get a trial date.
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Turkey is seeking to reap diplomatic rewards from its military success in Libya. Recent gains by Turkish-backed forces of the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) are enhancing Ankara’s influence in Libya and with the European Union.Turkey sent military personnel to Libya in January to support the Tripoli-based GNA. It had been under sustained attack from forces led by Libyan General Khalif Haftar, who has a power base in eastern Libya. Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) has the backing of countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Russia.   
 
The Turkish military deployment to Libya, widely seen as a gamble by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, turned out to be a game changer in the civil war.  
 FILE – Mourners pray for fighters killed in airstrikes by warplanes of General Khalifa Haftar’s forces, in Tripoli, Libya, April 24, 2019.Haftar’s forces were driven from the suburbs of Tripoli and continue to sustain territorial losses.
 
Turkish Foreign Affairs Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and Hakan Fidan, the head of Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization, led a high-level delegation Wednesday to Tripoli, underlining the critical role Turkey is now playing in Libya. According to pro-government Turkish media reports, Ankara is looking to establish an air and naval base in Libya.  
 
The Turkish government so far hasn’t officially commented on the news reports, but Ankara’s military presence in Libya could be a big bargaining chip with the European Union.   
 
“Libya is so strategically important to the EU, as Libya is the gateway of Africa to Europe,” said retired Turkish ambassador to Qatar Mithat Rende.
 
The Libyan civil war’s chaos made the country one of the main smuggling routes for migrants trying to enter the EU.   
 
Ankara already has a deal with the EU to prevent refugees and migrants from trying to enter through Turkey, in exchange for billions of dollars in aid.   
 
Political science professor Ilhan Uzgel of Ankara University said Erdogan now sees an opportunity to extend Turkey’s role as the EU’s gatekeeper to Libya. Ankara has myriad issues it’s negotiating with Brussels in the renewal of a customs union on visa free travel.  
 
“Turkey used the Syrian refugees as a bargaining chip against the EU, it was a policy of blackmail, and it worked somehow. Now with Libya, Turkey has a new card or leverage against the EU. So, they [the EU] may not be happy, but the EU is usually making a bargain with Turkey over the refugee issues,” said Uzgel.  
 Russia Looks to Washington for Help in Libya Russian FM Sergey Lavrov says he would welcome any efforts by Washington to use its influence on Turkey to help fashion a truce in LibyaFrance and Germany have sharply criticized Turkish military intervention in Libya, although with Germany taking over the EU presidency in July, German Chancellor Angela Merkel could be looking to Erdogan for a deal.  
 
“Turkish military presence in Libya would strengthen its position vis-a-vis EU in general and Germany in particular,” said international relations expert Zaur Gasimov of Bonn University.   
 
“The fears of more influx of refugees have never been stronger than now in Europe, already heavily challenged by the [coronavirus] pandemic and economic recession,” he added.  
 
Merkel spoke by telephone with Erdogan this month about Libya. Friday, Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio flew to Ankara for talks with his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, on stabilizing the North African country.   
 
“They [the EU] don’t like his [Erdogan’s] personality; they don’t respect him. But they know that he can make a deal, and he keeps his promises in a way,” Uzgel said.   
 
In the U.S., the Trump Administration also could see Ankara as a partner in Libya.  
 
“Turkey and the U.S. can together make a positive difference [in Libya],” Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said Friday.  
 
U.S. President Donald Trump and Erdogan agreed this month to cooperate on Libya, although the nature of the cooperation remains unclear.  
 
Also this month, the U.S. military accused Russia of seeking to push for a strategic foothold on NATO’s southern flank at the expense of innocent Libyan lives. Moscow is a key backer of Haftar, although it denies any military involvement. But Turkey’s Libya military intervention is seen as thwarting Russian ambitions.   
 
A meeting between Russian and Turkish foreign ministers called by Russia for June 14 to discuss Libya was canceled.  
 
“The cancelation came from Turkey,” Uzgel said. ” It’s the rule of any conflict it’s usually the losing side who asks for a cease-fire. Turkey does not want to stop in Libya.”    
 
Moscow, however, is accused of establishing a substantial military presence in Libya. On Thursday, the U.S. Africa Command published what it said were new images of Russian warplanes in Libya.   
 
“Russia has sent its military jets to Libya, but we have not heard they had used their jets effectively against GNA forces. It could have been used effectively because [Turkish] drones are no match against fighter jets. But they haven’t been used. It appears more like symbolic importance; it’s more of a bluff than a tool in a fight” said Uzgel.
 
Moscow may be reluctant to risk its relations with Turkey, which have markedly improved in the past few years, much to the alarm of Turkey’s NATO partners. The two countries have strong trade ties and are cooperating in the Syrian civil war, despite backing rival sides in the conflict. Turkey, Russia and Iran are part of the Astana Process, which is seeking to end the conflict. While Moscow and Ankara struck an agreement to enforce a cease-fire in Afrin, the last rebel-controlled region.
 
Observers say that despite Turkey’s success in Libya, it still needs to handle Moscow with care. Russia can undermine Turkey’s efforts to stabilize Libya or push back against Turkish interests elsewhere.   
 
However, Gasimov believes pragmatism is likely to prevail.  
 
“Turkey and Russia would highly likely manage a deal in Libya, as they did in Syria, and indeed the Libyan antagonism would even bond them closer,” he said.  
 
Gasimov said Russia could be accommodating to Turkey’s demand to end Haftar’s leadership role, as part of any Libyan deal.  
 
“The Russian position is heterogeneous and dynamic. Haftar, who studied in the U.S.S.R., is not seen any more as the only key factor for Russia’s presence in Libya. Moscow is searching for alternatives,” he said.  
 
Any Russian deal, though, is likely to be limited by Turkey’s desire to work with its Western allies in Libya.  
 
“Ankara can make a deal with Moscow but on its terms,” said Uzgel. “They may be a short-term limited deal with Russia. Anything more and the EU would not be happy or the United States. There may be a temporary small-scale deal with Russia.” 
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