US to Continue Attempts to Stage Coup in Venezuela, Russian Foreign Ministry Says
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - US-backed attempts to stage a coup in Venezuela will continue, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told reporters on Wednesday.
"We will continue to resist attempts to stage a coup in Venezuela that have been a failure so far. However, these attempts will continue at the US behest," he said, TASS news agency reported.
On January 23, Juan Guaido, Venezuelan opposition leader and parliament speaker, whose appointment to that position had been cancelled by the country’s Supreme Court, declared himself interim president at a rally in the country’s capital of Caracas.
Several countries, including the United States, Lima Group members (excluding Mexico), Australia, Albania, Georgia and Israel, as well as the Organization of American States, recognized him. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, in turn, blasted the move as a coup staged by Washington and said he was severing diplomatic ties with the US. On February 4, most of the European Union member states recognized Guaido as Venezuela’s interim president.
In contrast, Russia, Belarus, Bolivia, Iran, Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Syria and Turkey voiced support for Maduro, while China called for resolving all differences peacefully and warned against foreign interference. The United Nations secretary general, in turn, called for dialogue to resolve the crisis.
