Russia won't seek U.N. panel meeting

MOSCOW, April 27 (UPI) -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has not instructed Russia's mission at the United Nations to call a Security Council meeting on Libya, a Medvedev aide said.

NATO has been enforcing a U.N. resolution to protect civilians in Libya, and has stepped up its airstrikes in Tripoli and other major cities in recent days. Russia abstained from voting on the Security Council resolution.

On Wednesday, RIA Novosti quoted presidential aide Sergei Prikhodko as saying, "At the moment, the president has given no instructions to initiate an emergency Security Council meeting on Libya."

Prikhodko's comment came several hours after a report by Libya's state-run news agency that Tripoli urged Russia, a permanent U.N. Security Council member, to call the meeting.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin sharply criticized NATO's military actions in Libya Tuesday, saying Libya was being destroyed by "so-called civilized society."