MOSCOW: Russia is determined to prevent a military intervention in Venezuela, the speaker of the country’s upper house of parliament said on Sunday. “We are very afraid that the United States may stage any provocations to provoke bloodshed and find a reason and pretext for intervention in Venezuela,” said Federation Council speaker Valentina Matviyenko in comments carried by the state news agency TASS.
“But we will do our utmost to prevent this,” she added. Matviyenko did not say how Russia would block such a move.
The US has not explicitly ruled out a military intervention in Venezuela, where an economic crisis presided over by President Nicolas Maduro has precipitated mass migration due to dire humanitarian conditions.
On Saturday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov doubled down on the Kremlin’s criticism of Washington’s involvement in the oil-rich nation’s internal affairs.
Following a phone call with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Lavrov said that aggressive influence from outside the country “under the hypocritical pretext of humanitarian aid has nothing to do with the democratic process.” Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez visited Moscow this weekend for talks.
The US supports Juan Guaido, an opposition leader who declared himself interim president in January and called for fresh elections, along with numerous other Latin American and European states.
Maduro has the backing of Russia, China and regional allies Cuba, Nicaragua and Bolivia.
Guaido on Saturday promised he would return to his home country despite the risk of arrest and called for fresh protests against Maduro. Guaido said he would return to Venezuela following his visit to Ecuador, without naming a specific date, at a joint press conference with President Lenin Moreno in the Ecuadorian coastal town of Salinas.
He also called on demonstrators to take to the streets during Carnival celebrations on Monday and Tuesday.
Maduro has said Guaido could be arrested on his return for violating a travel ban placed on him by the Supreme Court after he declared himself interim president on January 23. The opposition leader nevertheless left the country on February 22 to travel to Colombia and other South American countries including Brazil and Argentina in a bid to rally support. His original schedule also included a visit to Peru on Sunday.
Earlier on Saturday the European Union warned Maduro’s government not to arrest Guaido, saying any such move would “represent a major escalation of tensions and meet the firm condemnation of the international community.” Maduro has presided over a massive economic crisis, with annual inflation running at millions of per cent, while more than 3 million Venezuelans have fled abroad to escape food and medicine shortages. — dpa
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