Russia not going to push away Venezuela at U.S. "shout" - senator Dzhabarov
MOSCOW. Aug 7 (Interfax) - Russia will not yield to Washington's calls to drop support for the authorities in Venezuela, according to Vladimir Dzhabarov, first deputy head of the Federation Council Foreign Affairs Committee.
"Russia has certain obligations to Venezuela: military, economic, political. Venezuela is very friendly with us and we have major ties in all spheres. So, we are of course not going to push Venezuela away from us at the shout of the Americans," Dzhabarov told Interfax on Wednesday.
There has been a lot of talk in America about Russia meddling in political processes in various countries, including the U.S., despite the U.S. itself behaving "like an elephant in a china shop," Dzhabarov said.
"Look what they are doing: they are urging us to refrain from supporting the regime [in Venezuela]. Why don't we offer them to refrain from supporting the unconstructive opposition which attempted to stage a coup d'etat. What would they make of it? This is a policy of double standards: what the Americans may, the others may not. This is wrong, because it is a very bad practice, getting involved in the affairs of other states," Dzhabarov said.
The question of who should be president of a country must be decided in an election, not outside, he said.
"Maduro received legitimate power from the hands of the people. Let the next elections determine who gets into parliament and who becomes the head of state. But pressing from outside for [Juan] Guaido [the Venezuelan opposition leader] or someone else to come [to power] is a bad trend, because in the end what will happen is the Americans will turn into the global gendarme if they plant suitable regimes everywhere," Dzhabarov said.
On Tuesday the U.S. national security advisor John Bolton urged Russia and China to drop their support of Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro.