Libyan Prime Minister, Mr Shokri Ghanem, has denied his country's guilt in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing which killed 270 people and says Tripoli has only agreed to pay damages to victims in order to "buy peace".
In comments which appear directly to contradict recent more conciliatory moves by Tripoli, Mr Ghanem said Libya had refused to apologise for the attack because that was not part of the deal.
In a deal reached after years of negotiations, Libya last year agreed to pay $2.7 billion in compensation for Lockerbie victims - many of whom were Britons and Americans travelling on Pan Am flight 103 when it was blown up over the Scottish town of Lockerbie.
In response, United Nations Security Council voted in September to lift sanctions on Libya, first imposed in 1992.
Asked whether that meant Libya did not see the compensation payments as an admission of guilt for the bombing, he said: "I agree with that, and that is why I say we bought peace."
Mr Ghanem also said he did not believe there was any evidence to show Libya was behind the 1984 fatal shooting of British policewoman Yvonne Fletcher outside its embassy in London.
But asked in the BBC interview whether he agreed with Libyan lawyers who claimed there is no evidence to show Libya was behind the shooting, Mr Ghanem said: "There is no reason to oppose that view, because I think it is an educated view."
Mr Ghanem's comments threaten to sour relations between Tripoli and Britain and the USat a time when Libya had been making efforts to reintergrate into the international community.