A US official said US President Barack Obama had talked with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev about his staying in touch with and having contacts with the Libyan regime.
"They did not talk about a specific ceasefire proposal and spoke generally," the official said.
A spokesman for Britain`s Prime Minister David Cameron distanced Downing Street from the idea Russia had been specifically asked to mediate, saying: "That`s not something that we recognise."
"Requests have been voiced that Russia take upon itself the role of a mediator in settling the situation in Libya," Medvedev`s spokeswoman Natalia Timakova told reporters at the G8 summit in Deauville.
She said the requests were made during a series of bilateral talks between Medvedev and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Obama and Cameron, saying: "Everyone thanked the president for his constructive position on Libya."
The three Western countries have been leading military action, including air strikes, against Kadhafi`s forces as they try to quash the rebellion.
Russia has been critical of the strikes, but did not veto the UN Security Council resolution authorising military intervention to protect civilians.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke by phone with Kadhafi`s Prime Minister Baghdadi al-Mahmudi earlier Thursday and he also asked Moscow to mediate a ceasefire, his ministry said.
"Tripoli`s representative came forward with a request to help achieve agreements on a ceasefire and the start of talks without pre-conditions," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
Lavrov told Mahmudi that agreeing a ceasefire was possible, the statement said, and that "representatives of all political forces and tribes of this country" should be involved in the talks "without outside interference."
"The ball is now in the Libyans` court, including Tripoli which should demonstrate responsibility for the fate of its state and its people," the statement said.
Russia has previously said Kadhafi may need to stand down, although Moscow refuses to accept the rebels as a legitimate power in Libya and still has formal ties with the Tripoli regime.
Mahmudi said in Tripoli that Libya had asked the United Nations and the African Union to set a date and specific hours for a ceasefire, to send international observers and take "necessary measures" to end the fighting.
Earlier, African leaders gathered at a Libya-focused summit in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa called for an end to NATO air strikes to pave the way for a political solution to the north African nation`s protracted conflict.
But NATO insisted it would keep up its air raids in Libya until Kadhafi`s forces stop attacking civilians and until the regime`s proposed ceasefire is matched by its actions on the ground.
"If the Kadhafi regime is serious about finding a solution, all it needs to do is end its attacks on civilians, withdraw its forces, and permit full, safe and unhindered access to humanitarian aid," a NATO official told AFP. (*)
Editor: Kunto Wibisono
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