President Dmitry Medvedev’s envoy Mikhail Margelov was on Tuesday meeting with Libyan rebel leaders in the first trip by a top Russian official to their stronghold, as NATO warplanes pounded the capital Tripoli.

“We have come to Benghazi to facilitate dialogue between the two camps,” Margelov told reporters on touching down at Benghazi’s airport.

“Russia is in a unique position because it already has an ambassador in Tripoli and now we are meeting with the rebel leadership today,” he added.

Margelov, Medvedev’s Africa envoy, told Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency earlier he would meet rebel leaders including Mustafa Abdul Jalil, head of the National Transitional Council that controls eastern Libya.

Medvedev said at the G8 summit last month that he would be sending an envoy to Libya, as Moscow seeks to present itself as a potential mediator between the rebels and Moamer Kadhafi’s regime.

“A drawing out of the armed conflict will worsen the humanitarian situation not only in Libya but also in neighbouring states that are taking on Libyan refugees,” Margelov told RIA.

Moscow has expressed alarm as NATO’s air campaign to enforce a UN-mandated no-fly zone to protect civilians entered a new phase with the deployment of British and French attack helicopters over the weekend.

“This all threatens a dangerous destabilisation of the situation in the region.”