MOSCOW, March 14. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has congratulated his Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolas Maduro, on the 80th anniversary of diplomatic relations between their countries and noted their mutual interest in the further development of bilateral ties in the spirit of friendship and mutual understanding.
"Our conversation is timed to a significant date, the 80th anniversary of diplomatic relations between our countries, which is marked today. Let me cordially congratulate you and all our Venezuelan friends on this occasion. We have exchanged messages where we stressed our mutual satisfaction with the current level of Russian-Venezuelan relations and expressed our interest in their further development in the spirit of friendship and complete mutual understanding," Putin said during his call with Maduro via a video link.
Putin stressed that Moscow and Caracas are linked by a long history, which has "a lot of bright pages." "Back in 18th century, Venezuela’s national hero Francisco De Miranda visited Russia and Russian Empress Catherine II even bestowed the rank of a Russian army colonel on him and granted him the Russian passport," the Russian president noted.
He recalled that in the mid-19th century, Russia recognized Venezuela’s independence. "It was actually the official beginning of interstate contacts. But the establishment of diplomatic relations in March 1945 paved the way for establishing a regular political dialogue, expanding trade and humanitarian ties," Putin added.