RIO DE JANEIRO, January 28. /TASS/. Disagreements on the situation in Venezuela between Russia and Brazil should not have an adverse effect on bilateral ties and cooperation in the BRICS group, Russian Ambassador to Brazil Sergei Akopov has told TASS.

"I would quote the words of [Brazil’s] Vice President [Antonio Hamilton] Mourao who was likewise asked that question. He said that we could disagree on individual issues, but that does not mean that we will not build relations in other areas of mutual interest. I believe that is the correct stance. We adhere to the same position as well and expect that the disagreements on the Venezuelan issue that we have will not affect our cooperation in general, for example, within the BRICS group, or our bilateral relations," the diplomat said.

Commenting on reports on the possibility of Brazil’s participation in a potential military operation in Venezuela, Akopov again recalled Mourao’s remarks who ruled out this scenario. "I believe it is not in the interests of Latin American countries to organize a military intervention there, since that would be out of sync with all fundamental principles, on which international relations and foreign policy in the region are built," he stressed.

Crisis in Venezuela

On January 23, Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido declared himself interim president during an opposition rally in Caracas. Venezuela's incumbent President Nicolas Maduro described that as an attempted coup.

The Lima Group member-countries, including Brazil, as well as Albania, Georgia, Israel, the US, Switzerland and the Organization of American States (OAS) have already recognized Guaido as Venezuela's interim president.

Russia, Bolivia, Iran, Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Turkey expressed their support for Maduro, while Belarus and China called for resolving all disagreements peacefully and spoke out against outside interference.