UNITED NATIONS, December 19. /TASS/. Escalatory US moves aimed at Venezuela are nothing but a clear manifestation of Washington’s neocolonial approaches, Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya said.

"Right now, we are witnessing a vivid display of neocolonial approaches in the escalatory actions by the US against Venezuela. Starting with false pretexts of combatting drug trafficking and terrorism, Washington has already moved on to open threats of military aggression and seizure of the territory and natural resources of a sovereign state," he told a high-level plenary meeting of the UN General Assembly to commemorate the 65th Anniversary of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples.

He explained that "neocolonial practices include such measures as unilateral sanctions and debt bondage, military and political pressure and interference in electoral processes, as well as politicizing humanitarian aid and human rights, rewriting history, and imposing a so-called ‘rules-based world order’."

"For all these new methods, the goals of the former colonial powers remain the same as they were decades ago: plundering less developed countries and exploiting their natural, human, and other resources for their own benefit," Nebenzya said.

Washington unfairly accuses Venezuela of not actively fighting drug smuggling. The US Navy has deployed a strike group of ships led by aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford, a nuclear submarine, and more than 16,000 military personnel in the Caribbean. Since September, the US army has sunk at least 20 speedboats in the region, killing more than 80 people. The American media has repeatedly said the United States may soon begin attacking drug cartel facilities in Venezuela.

On November 29, US President Donald Trump closed the airspace over Venezuela. On December 16, he said that the US armed forces would build up the grouping of forces formed around Venezuela until that country returned to Washington the "previously stolen" oil, land and other assets. On December 18, Trump said that the blockade he had imposed on Venezuela the day before would not allow those who, according to the US, should not enter this country to enter.