Russia pledges ‘full support’ for Venezuela against US ‘hostilities’

Summary

• Russia supports Venezuela, condemning US actions, including seizing oil tankers, as escalations that threaten international shipping and regional stability.
• Venezuela and Russia will cooperate and coordinate actions at the UN, ensuring respect for sovereignty and non-interference amid US aggression claims.
• The UN Security Council will meet after Venezuela, backed by Russia and China, requested discussions on the escalating crisis with the US.

CARACAS - Russia on Dec 22 expressed “full support” for Venezuela as the South American country confronts a blockade of sanctioned oil tankers by US forces deployed in the Caribbean, the two governments said.

In a phone call, the foreign ministers of the two allied countries blasted the US actions, which have included bombing alleged drug-trafficking boats and more recently the seizure of two tankers.

A third ship was being pursued,
a US official told AFP on Dec 21.

“The ministers expressed their deep concern over the escalation of Washington’s actions in the Caribbean Sea, which could have serious consequences for the region and threaten international shipping,” the Russian foreign ministry said, of the call between ministers Sergei Lavrov and Yvan Gil.

“The Russian side reaffirmed its full support for and solidarity with the Venezuelan leadership and people in the current context,” it added.

“The ministers agreed to continue their close bilateral cooperation and to coordinate their actions on the international stage, particularly at the UN, in order to ensure respect for state sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs.”

The UN Security Council is to meet on Dec 23 to discuss the mounting crisis between Venezuela and the US after a request from Caracas, backed by China and Russia.

On Telegram, Venezuela’s Mr Gil said he and Mr Lavrov had discussed “the aggressions and flagrant violations of international law being perpetrated in the Caribbean: attacks on vessels, extrajudicial executions, and illicit acts of piracy carried out by the United States government.”

US forces have since September launched strikes on boats
Washington said, without providing evidence, were trafficking drugs in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean.

More than 100 people have been killed, some of them fishermen, according to their families and governments.

US President Donald Trump on Dec 16 announced a blockade
of “sanctioned oil vessels” sailing to and from Venezuela.

Mr Trump has claimed Caracas under Mr Maduro is using oil money to finance “drug terrorism, human trafficking, murder and kidnapping.

Mr Gil said Mr Lavrov had affirmed Moscow’s “full support in the face of hostilities against our country”. AFP