French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Friday welcomed Russia's proposal to play a role as a mediator in Libya, where an international coalition is seeking the ouster of Col. Moammar Gadhafi, but he insisted that any negotiation would be limited to terms of the North African leader's departure.

Earlier Friday, Russia co-signed a declaration from the Group of Eight leading industrialized nations that said Col. Gadhafi had lost legitimacy and has no future in a free, democratic Libya.

"He must go," the joint G-8 declaration said.

Mr. Sarkozy said there was only room for discussing the conditions of Col. Gadhafi's exit from the country. "We can talk about the conditions of [Col. Gadhafi's] departure, whether he leaves honorably and to what country," Mr. Sarkozy told reporters at a press conference in Deauville, after a meeting of the G-8 heads of state in the Normandy resort.

France this week said it would deploy helicopters to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's air campaign in Libya, while on Friday the U.K. confirmed British attack helicopters would be made available to fly sorties over the country.