MOSCOW, March 1. /TASS/. Russia is counting on a fruitful development of relations with Venezuela and on deepening cooperation on joint projects that are already being implemented, press secretary of the Russian President, Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"We are interested in continuing cooperation with Venezuela, especially since a number of our companies are implementing fairly large projects there," the Kremlin spokesman said.

"We expect these projects to have good prospects for expansion and, of course, we wish that our Venezuelan partners will manage to cope with domestic, political and economic difficulties that now occur in their country," he added.

Commenting on the words of Venezuelan Executive Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, who is in Moscow on a working visit and who thanked Russia for the assistance it provided to her country, Peskov did not specify what exactly this assistance included.

"I think it would be correct to address these questions to those the Vice President is meeting with in Moscow. I think that first of all to the Foreign Ministry," he said.

The Kremlin spokesman also stressed that Russia maintains contacts with its partners from Venezuela on an ongoing basis.

"These contracts have not gone away, they will continue, it is quite natural," he said.

The Kremlin spokesman refused to answer the question of whether head of Rosneft, Igor Sechin, whose company is implementing the largest projects in Venezuela, received any special powers in connection with the situation in the country.

"I leave it without comment. You know the spokesperson for Rosneft quite well. I have no doubt that he will be ready to answer your questions comprehensively," Peskov said.