The new Libyan authorities are not planning to buy Russian military equipment, National Transitional Council chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil said.
"Libya will not need weaponry in the future," Abdel Jalil said in an exclusive interview with RIA Novosti.
He also thanked Moscow for its support of the Libyan revolution and said Russia will have its own place in the future of the North African country.
"Russia supported our revolution from the very beginning when it did not use its veto right against UN resolutions 1970 and 1973," Abdel Jalil said. "Russia will have its own role in the future of our country, reflecting its support of this revolution."
Russia will lose about $4 billion in existing and prospective arms deals with Libya after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi's regime.
Moscow had an order book for arms contracts from Libya worth $2 billion while negotiations with Tripoli had been in progress for deals worth $1.8 billion more.
Russian experts said on Thursday that the refusal to buy Russian weaponry by new Libyan authorities was predictable because Moscow did not play an active part in the support of Libyan rebels and was too slow to recognize the National Transitional Council as the legitimate power in the country.
"It is obvious that the new Libyan authorities will buy weaponry primarily from France and the United Kingdom and secondly from Italy and the United States to thank them for their direct support in ousting Gaddafi," said Ruslan Pukhov, the head of the Russian Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies.
