MOSCOW, July 19. /TASS/. A meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro will be held as planned if necessary, Alexander Shchetinin, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Latin American department, said.

"We have a normal political dialogue with the Venezuelans. If a meeting at the level of heads of state is necessary, we will hold it. Everything is going according to plan," the diplomat said at the unveiling of the Simon Bolivar monument in Moscow on Wednesday.

"Maduro has an invitation," he added when asked by TASS about the likely dates of the Venezuelan president’s visit to Russia.

A monument to Simon Bolivar, a military commander at the time of the war of independence of the Spanish colonies in the Americas, has been unveiled at the intersection of Vernadsky and Universitetsky Avenues in Moscow. The opening of the monument coincides with the 240th anniversary of Bolivar's birth. The height of the sculpture is more than four meters. The location of the monument was determined in 2010. A foundation stone was laid in the park in the presence of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. The Venezuelan government donated to Moscow a copy of the equestrian sculpture of Simon Bolivar by the Italian master Adamo Tadolini, which was installed in the Venezuelan capital Caracas.