Russia offers to verify killing of Gaddafi's son: Ministry

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Russia on Tuesday offered to send experts to Libya to check whether leader Muammar Gaddafi's son and grandchildren were killed in a Nato strike or whether the claim was made for "propaganda" reasons.

"The Libyan authorities can invite independent specialists for the expert evaluation necessary in such cases," foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said of claims that a Nato strike killed Gaddafi's youngest son Seif al-Arab.

If Libya sends such a request, "the Russian side can send qualified experts to Tripoli," the spokesman said, commenting after Italian President Silvio Berlusconi recently denied the report of Seif al-Arab's death.

"It is important to bring clarity because issues dealing with people's life and death should not be used for the purposes of propagating propaganda," he added.

The Libyan regime claimed on May 1 that a Nato raid killed Gaddafi's youngest son and three grandchildren but that the strongman leader escaped unhurt in what it called a deliberate assassination attempt.

But Berlusconi last week called the report "unfounded", saying that Seif al-Arab was alive and currently in another country along with the three grandchildren.