MOSCOW, June 13. /TASS/. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov reported that he plans to visit Venezuela in the coming weeks.

"In the coming weeks," the deputy foreign ministers said, answering TASS’ question.

Ryabkov also noted that there are no preparations for contacts with US Special Representative for Venezuela Elliott Abrams yet.

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 as the interim state leader. Incumbent Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, in turn, blasted the move as a coup staged by Washington and said he was severing diplomatic ties with the US. Russia, Belarus, Bolivia, Iran, Cuba, China, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Syria and Turkey voiced support for Maduro.