Lavrov holds phone call with Venezuelan vice president

from RT

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has held a phone call with Venezuelan Executive Vice President Delcy Rodriguez and expressed solidarity with the people of the South American nation in the face of US aggression.

The conversation took place on Saturday, shortly after US President Donald Trump announced that following large-scale strikes on Venezuela, American special forces had captured and taken the nation’s leader, Nicolas Maduro, out of the country.

“Lavrov expressed firm solidarity with the Venezuelan people in the face of armed aggression,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement, adding that Moscow will continue to support Venezuela’s policy of defending the country’s sovereignty and national interests.

Both Lavrov and Rodriguez “expressed their support for preventing further escalation and for finding a way out of the situation through dialogue,” the ministry said. Both sides also voiced commitment to furthering the Russia-Venezuela strategic partnership agreement.

Under the Venezuelan Constitution, Rodriguez is next in line of succession if the president is no longer capable of fulfilling his duties. However, Trump has stressed that the US will be involved in deciding who rules in the oil-rich South American country. 

“We can’t take a chance on letting somebody else run and just take over where [Maduro] left off,” he told Fox News in a phone interview on Saturday. “So we're making that decision now.”...

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