MOSCOW: Russia betrayed its interests by refusing to veto the UN resolution on Libya and siding with the West, Moscow's ex-envoy in Tripoli said on Thursday after the Libya conflict exposed tensions in the country's ruling duo.

His comments in an interview with the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper shed further light on a split in the Russian elite between those who believe Russia should cooperate with the West and those who want it to pursue traditional political and business interests.

Chamov revealed that his dismissal came after he sent a telegram to President Dmitry Medvedev saying that siding with the West against Libya would essentially amount to a betrayal of Moscow's interests in the country.

“I wrote a telegram in which I stressed that I represented Russia's interests in Libya,” Chamov said.

“Our countries had in recent times sought closer cooperation and it was not in Russia's interests to lose such a partner.

“Russian companies had agreed very lucrative long-term contracts worth tens of billions of euros which they could lose and have already lost. Which in a sense can be considered a betrayal of Russia's interests.”

On Medvedev's orders, Russia abstained from the UN resolution last week, refusing to use its veto which would have blocked its passage. Days later his mentor, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin likened that resolution to a “mediaeval call to crusade”.Chamov, a veteran diplomat who had also worked in Iraq, was dismissed for “incompetence” and failing to adequately represent his country's interests in Libya and stripped of all state honours, Moskovsky Komsomolets said.

Speaking on popular Echo of Moscow radio later in the day, Chamov however said he had never used the word “betrayed” in his telegram to Medvedev.

“One cannot use such words lightly, such words are never used in official correspondence — these terms are more suitable for sentimental novels. I even do not understand where this comes from,” he said.

In his newspaper interview, Chamov also said he had frequent meetings with Libya's leader Muammar Qadhafi in the run-up to the military campaign calling him “absolutely capable”.

“When we saw each other last time, he was calm and understood what he was doing,” he said, adding it was wrong to claim that Qadhafi had oppressed his people because Libyans had had access to interest-free loans, cheap petrol, food and cars.

Chamov said Russia alone would have been unable to prevent the war but it could have joined forces with countries like China and India. He added that Qadhafi had invited him along with Chinese and Indian ambassadors to clarify their countries' positions a week ago.

Chamov added that Qadhafi's regime would likely tumble in three to four months when food stocks run out, and afterwards the West might attack other countries in the region.

“I am afraid that after Libya it will very soon be Syria's turn and then that of other countries in Asia.”

In comments that flew directly in the face of Medvedev's position, Putin this week called the UN resolution “defective and flawed”.

The former ambassador indicated that Putin's position on Libya largely dovetailed with his own.

“What I especially like about him is that Vladimir Vladimirovich gives very precise, concise and succinct definitions,” Chamov said. “Here, I think, he is not that far from the truth.”—AFP