NATO needs a stronger focus on the south and Africa, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni told a news conference on Thursday, noting that Russia could increase its presence in eastern Libya after the fall of its ally’s regime in Syria.
The ouster of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, where the Kremlin controls an air base and naval facility, has created uncertainty about Russian influence in the Middle East and the Mediterranean.
Prime Minister Meloni said she had raised the issue of Russia’s presence in Africa with its allies over the past two years and called on NATO to increase its presence on the continent.
“We are very focused on our eastern flank, not realizing that all the flanks of this alliance are potentially exposed, especially the southern one,” she said.
The Kremlin said last month it was in talks with Syria’s new rulers about its bases and was not withdrawing from there, but Italy fears Moscow could seek to strengthen its presence elsewhere.
“After the fall of the Assad regime, it is reasonable to believe that Russia is looking for other (sea) outlets and it is reasonable to believe that one of them could be Cyrenaica,” Meloni told reporters.
Cyrenaica, in eastern Libya, is controlled by Libyan National Army (LNA) commander Khalifa Haftar, who has developed ties to the Kremlin over the years, Reuters reports.
