Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi, who visits Moscow Friday for the first time since 1985, will offer to host a Russian naval base in his north African country, a Russian newspaper reported.
"Libya is ready to host a Russian naval military base," the Kommersant reported, citing a source close to the preparations for Kadhafi's first visit since the days of the Soviet Union.
The base could be located at the port of Benghazi, the source said.
"The Russian military presence will be a guarantee of nonaggression against Libya from the United States, which is not in a hurry to embrace Kadhafi despite gestures of reconciliation," the newspaper said.
Kadhafi is scheduled to visit Russia from Friday to Sunday.
Relations between Russia and Libya, a former pariah state that has pushed to get back into the international fold in recent years, showed signs of significant warming this year after a long chill.
Earlier this month, a Russian warship docked in Tripoli as part of a global show of force that is to include joint naval exercises between Russia and Venezuela in the Caribbean in November.
In April, during a visit to Tripoli by then-president Vladimir Putin, Moscow agreed to cancel billions of dollars of Libyan Soviet-era debt in exchange for multi-billion-dollar contracts with Russian companies.
During his visit, Russian gas giant Gazprom Neft (GZPFY) signed a cooperation agreement with Libya's national energy company while Russia's rail monopoly signed a EUR2.2 billion ($2.82 billion) contract to build a railway line in Libya.
During the Cold War, Libya bought many of its weapons from Moscow.