MOSCOW, February 27. /TASS/. Russia’s upper house of parliament, the Federation Council, is calling on the United Nations and foreign parliaments to support peaceful political process in Venezuela and thwart any attempts of external meddling in the country’s domestic affairs, says a statement backed by the senators at a plenary session on Wednesday.
The Russian Federation Council "strongly condemns the statements of Venezuelan opposition members and foreign politicians inciting violence and the toppling of Venezuela’s legitimate authorities." The senators are calling on foreign parliaments, the United Nations, the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Interparliamentary Assembly, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the European, Central American and Latin American parliaments, and also the parliament of the Southern Common Market to "voice support for dialogue and peaceful political process in Venezuela and curbing any attempts of foreign meddling in this country’s domestic affairs."
The senators will consider the illegitimate use of military power by other states supporting the opposition only as an act of aggression against a sovereign state and a threat to international peace and security," the statement said.
Russia’s upper house in its statement voices concerns that tensions in Venezuela have been growing. "Over the past many years certain foreign states are using the methods of political and economic pressure against this country with the goal of toppling Venezuela’s legitimate authorities, exacerbating social problems by imposing sanctions thus provoking popular discontent. In recent months, attempts have been made to use the scenario of forceful power change earlier tested in a number of Arab states and in Ukraine," the statement says.
The senators note that after the US-backed attempted coup d’etat failed in Venezuela, the supporters of ousting the legitimate government of Nicolas Maduro started staging brazen provocations. On February 23-24, the attempts were carried out to send US humanitarian convoys to Venezuela from neighboring states with the goal of "sparking a large-scale civil war and further conducting military intervention against this state."
The Federation Council underlines that the statements of leading US politicians confirm that a similar scenario could be also used against Nicaragua, Cuba and other sovereign states, which reject meddling in their domestic affairs.
The Russian senators call for solving the crisis in Venezuela in the framework of international law and national legislation. "The Federation Council’s members are convinced that the friendly nation of this Latin American country can overcome this crisis on their own presuming that the legitimate authorities rely on the support of Venezuela’s civil society, whose opinion should be certainly respected by other states not less than the viewpoint of the Venezuelan opposition, which they support," the statement said.
Russia is ready to continue providing the necessary support for Venezuela in fulfilling its chosen path of development, based on the respect for its sovereignty and relying on constructive relations with this country’s legitimate authorities, the statement says.
Crisis in Venezuela
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. Maduro, in turn, blasted the move as a coup staged by Washington and said he was severing diplomatic ties with the US.
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.
On February 4, most of the European Union member states recognized Guaido as Venezuela’s interim president.
On Saturday, Guaido called on the international community to be ready to consider all options to resolve the crisis in Venezuela. Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo told Fox News that every option was on the table as far as Venezuela was concerned.