MOSCOW, December 18. /TASS/. Russia hopes that the US administration will demonstrate a pragmatic approach to the situation around Venezuela to avoid mistakes that will impact the entire region, a high-ranking Russian foreign ministry official told TASS.

"We hope that a pragmatic, sober approach to the situation, which have always been characteristic of the [US President Donald] Trump administration will prevail in practical actions of the American administration. Such a pragmatic approach will make it possible to avoid situation that may be fraught with very serious consequences for the region, to avoid mistakes that will need to be corrected later. We hope that their approach will be like this," Alexander Shchetinin, director of the ministry’s Latin American department, said, commenting on Trump’s statement on recognizing the Venezuelan authorities as a "terrorist organization."

"We hope that common sense will prevail and will proceed from this in our actions," he said.

Earlier, Trump ordered to block all sanctioned tankers heading to and from Venezuela and wrote on his Truth Social platform that he had designated the Venezuelan authorities a "foreign terrorist organization."

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has repeatedly said that his country is facing the most serious threat of an aggression from the United States in the past 100 years. The United States, in his words, is seeking to seize the world’s largest oil deposits in Venezuela.

Meanwhile, Washington has accused Caracas of not doing enough to combat drug smuggling. Under this pretext, a strike group of US warships led by the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford, o nuclear-powered submarine, and more than 16,000 troops have reportedly been deployed by the United States to the Caribbean. Since September, the US has destroyed at least 20 boats and eliminated more than 80 people allegedly involved in drug trafficking from Venezuela.