UNITED NATIONS, January 5. /TASS/. Russia calls on the United States to release without delay Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Vasily Nebenzya, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, stated.
"In light of the confirmed information regarding the presence of President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in the United States and, as we know, specifically in New York from today, we urge the American leadership to release the president of an independent country and his wife immediately," the Russian diplomat said, addressing a UN Security Council meeting on Venezuela.
"We resolutely condemn the US military aggression against Venezuela in violation of all international law norms," Nebenzya emphasized.
He decried Washington’s actions against Maduro as a harbinger of the return to an era of lawlessness and US domination. "The kidnapping of the Venezuelan leader with accompanying deaths of dozens of Venezuelan and Cuban citizens became in the eyes of many a harbinger of the return to an era of lawlessness and US military domination, chaos and unlawfulness that still harm dozens of countries across the globe," Nebenzya maintained.
According to Russia’s UN envoy, the United States has given a new impetus to its policy of neocolonialism and imperialism in Latin America.
Venezuela’s top diplomat Yvan Gil Pinto said on January 3 that the United States had attacked civilian and military facilities in Caracas. He condemned Washington’s actions as a military aggression. Venezuela declared a state of emergency. Trump later confirmed the attack on Venezuela. According to the US leader, Maduro and his wife have been captured and taken out of the country.
Maduro pleaded not guilty a New York court hearing on Monday. The judge set the next hearing in the Maduro case on March 17.