LONDON, February 4./TASS/. The UK recognizes Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as interim president, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt tweeted on Monday.
"[Acting President] Nicolas Maduro has not called Presidential elections within 8 day limit we have set. So UK alongside European allies now recognizes Guaido as interim constitutional president until credible elections can be held," Jeremy Hunt wrote in his Twitter account.
"Let’s hope this takes us closer to ending humanitarian crisis," said the foreign secretary who earlier had accused Maduro of rigging the presidential elections in Venezuela last May and barring opposition candidates from the election.
On January 26, Hunt said London would recognize Guaido as the interim president if fresh elections are not announced within the next eight days.
On January 23, the leader of Venezuela’s opposition Juan Guaido, whose appointment as parliamentary speaker had been annulled by the Supreme Court two days before that, declared himself as acting president. On the same day, the United States recognized him as acting head of state. So did the Lima Group countries except for Mexico, the Organization of American States, and a number of other countries.
Some other European countries, including Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and France said on January 26 they would recognize Guaido as interim president, if Maduro refused to call an early election within eight days. The deadline has expired on Monday, February 4. Austria, Spain and Sweden have also announced they recognize Guaido as interim president.
Russia, Belarus, Bolivia, Iran, China, Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Turkey came out in Maduro’s support. The UN secretary-general urged a dialogue for resolving the crisis.