MOSCOW, January 25. /TASS/. Russian Ambassador to Caracas Sergey Melik-Bagdasarov believes it’s well within the realm of possibility that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was betrayed by the country’s law enforcement.
"Naturally, many of the local law enforcement officers did not do what they could do. If what had been going on here long before this happened could be called betrayal, naturally, it was betrayal. And we know the names of these betrayers who have fled Venezuela, who had been working systemically for the American intelligence," he said in an interview with the Rossiya-24 television channel.
On January 3, US President Donald Trump announced a military operation in Caracas that resulted in the capture of Maduro and his wife by American forces. On January 5, the couple appeared before the US Federal Court for the Southern District of New York, where they face charges of alleged involvement in drug trafficking. Both have pleaded not guilty. Vice President Delcy Rodriguez was sworn in as Venezuela’s interim president on January 6. Meanwhile, Trump said that Washington would "run" Venezuela in the interim.