Gaddafi ready for talks with NATO, opposition - Ilyumzhinov
13:43 14/06/2011
June 14 (RIA Novosti) - Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has claimed in a conversation with president of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) Kirsan Ilyumzhinov that he was ready to proceed in talks with NATO and rebels, but ruled out the possibility of his resignation.
Russian eccentric billionaire Ilyumzhinov, who once claimed he hosted extraterrestrials, showed up in Tripoli and sat down for a game of chess with Gaddafi on Sunday.
"I am ready for immediate talks with the NATO leadership and Benghazi representatives on the future of our country," Ilyumzhinov quoted Gaddafi as saying. The strongman has laid down one condition for such talks - cessation of air strikes.
However Gaddafi stated that he is not planning to leave Libya, stressing that it is his motherland and the land where his children and grandchildren died, the FIDE president added.
Gaddafi said he left his residence in Bab al-Azizia a few minutes before a NATO bomb hit it. But his son Saif al-Arab and three of Gaddafi’s grandchildren who remained inside the compound were killed. “This house was in fact destroyed in front of his very eyes.”
Gaddafi also said that he does not understand which post he needs to step down from. "I am neither premier nor president nor king. I do not hold any post in Libya and therefore I have no position which I should give up."
The Kremlin said it was aware of the details of Ilyumzhinov's visit to Tripoli.
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