CARACAS, April 19. /TASS/. Russia is a ‘world champion’ in terms of amounts of Western sanctions imposed, and will share its experience of mitigating their impact with Venezuela, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said during his visit to Caracas.
"I’m convinced that our experience will be useful for our Venezuelan friends, because we are the world champions in terms of sanctions imposed, and we are gaining experience quickly. So, we are going to share it with our Venezuelan colleagues," he said at a press conference on Tuesday following talks with his Venezuelan counterpart Ivan Gil Pinto.
Journalists asked the Russian foreign minister about whether Russia’s experience can be useful for Venezuela in a situation, when Washington hinted at the possibility of lifting sanctions at first, and then, on the contrary, announced that the restrictions may be even toughened.
In this regard, Lavrov emphasized that it was of common knowledge that the United States may deceive anyone at any moment, and they are more likely to deceive than to fulfill its own promises and initiatives.
"To begin with, there is the story when they assured [Soviet President Mikhail] Gorbachev and [Russian President Boris] Yeltsin that NATO will not expand. The list goes on, and it will probably be too boring to hear it all. Everyone knows it very well," he added.
"That is why we fully support the position of our Venezuelan friends. It is their country, their hydrocarbons, their economy that is being subjected to toughest unlawful sanctions, and it is their choice how to continue working and developing their country," he said. "We will work to make the economy of Venezuela less and less dependent on whims and geopolitical games of the United States or other players from the Western camp.".