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US keeping military intervention card for Venezuela on the table, says diplomat

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova recalled that the US openly announced the creation of a coalition to pursue regime change in Venezuela

MOSCOW, March 7. /TASS/. Washington has not shelved the option of military intervention for Venezuela, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters at a press briefing on Thursday.

"With its explicit militarist plans for Venezuela rebuffed even by the United States’ closest allies from among Latin American countries who said resolutely that external military intervention was unacceptable, the establishment in Washington, nevertheless, has not taken the military intervention option off the table," the diplomat said. She recalled that the US openly announced the creation of a coalition to pursue regime change in the South American country. "All statements about the need to return democracy and provide assistance to civilians have been left aside," Zakharova stated.

She also put the spotlight on US reconnaissance flights close to Venezuela’s borders, which have become more frequent, and the intensification of Washington’s military contacts with the Bolivarian Republic’s neighbors. "Simultaneously, a so-called plan B is being devised. The issue at hand is training illegal armed groups, bringing them into Venezuela to carry out sabotage and subversive activities and create pockets of resistance in order to plunge the country into a large-scale domestic armed conflict," she stressed.

According to Zakharova, "[Venezuela’s] leadership is openly talking about the radical opposition’s plans to engineer acts of sabotage in the country with the assistance from abroad that would involve mercenary units comprising, in particular, Venezuelan soldiers who defected from the army." "Recently, there has been an increase in the number of various incidents at energy and communication infrastructure facilities. The US sanctions pressure is mounting, and everything possible is being done to stifle and bleed dry the Venezuelan economy," she added.

Trump’s National Security Adviser John Bolton earlier said that Washington planned to create a broad coalition to topple Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro. He added that Washington continued to adhere to the Monroe Doctrine, according to which all of Latin America falls under its exclusive zone of interests.

Turmoil in Venezuela

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 on January 23. Several countries, including the United States, Lima Group members (excluding Mexico), as well as the Organization of American States, recognized him as president. Venezuela's incumbent President Nicolas Maduro blasted these actions as an attempted coup and said that he was cutting diplomatic ties with Washington.

In contrast, Russia, Belarus, Bolivia, Iran, China, Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Syria and Turkey voiced support for Maduro.