27 Feb 2019 15:48

Russia's Federation Council issues statement on Venezuela

MOSCOW. Feb 27 (Interfax) - The Federation Council has called on the United Nations and other international organizations and foreign parliaments to denounce foreign interference in Venezuela's internal affairs.

"The Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation strongly denounces statements by Venezuelan opposition figures and foreign politicians provoking violence and the ouster of the legitimate authorities in Venezuela," the Federation Council said in a statement it adopted on Wednesday.

The Russian senators have urged the parliaments of foreign countries, the United Nations, the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Parliamentary Assembly, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Parliamentary Assembly, the European Parliament, the Latin American Parliament, the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) Parliament, and the Central American Parliament "to stand up in support of dialogue and a peaceful political process in Venezuela and for preventing any foreign attempts at interference in this country's internal affairs."

"For years, certain foreign states have been applying methods of political and economic pressure on Venezuela to accomplish the ouster of its legitimate administration by worsening social problems through sanctions, which provokes the population's discontent," it said.

Past months have seen attempts at using the scenario of forcible change of government earlier tested in a number of Arab countries and in Ukraine, the statement said.

"After the failure of a coup attempt in Venezuela organized with support from the United States of America, supporters of the forcible deposition of Nicolas Maduro's legitimate government have switched to open provocation," it said.

"The events of February 23 and 24, 2019, when attempts were made to send U.S. 'humanitarian convoys' to Venezuela from countries neighboring it without the coordination of the legitimate Venezuelan government, aimed at provoking a full-scale civil war and later committing an armed intervention in this state," the statement said.

"The sending of so-called humanitarian aid by the states that have frozen Venezuela's assets worth dozens of billions of dollars is aimed at prompting the country's people to violently overthrow its legitimate authorities," it said.

"Statements by leading politicians in the United States of America leave no doubt that a similar scenario is also being planned for Nicaragua, Cuba, and other sovereign states which reject interference in their internal affairs," the statement said.

The situation surrounding Venezuela must be approached in compliance with international and national law, it said.

"The Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation will consider the illegitimate use of military force against Venezuela by other states that exclusively support the opposition as an act of aggression against a sovereign state and a threat to international peace and security," the statement said.

The Venezuelan people are capable of overcoming this crisis on their own, "provided that the legitimate authorities rely on support from the Venezuelan civil society, whose opinion should certainly be respected by other countries at least as much as the opinion of the Venezuelan opposition they support," it said.

"The Russian Federation stands ready to continue to provide the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela with the support it requires in following its chosen path of development by respecting its sovereignty and relying on the existing constructive relations with this country's legitimate administration," the statement said.