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Russia’s Lavrov labels US demands for Russia to get out of Western hemisphere as insolent

They US attempts to meddle with the Venezuela crisis "are arrogant and great-power," the top diplomat said

MOSCOW, April 3. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov branded as arrogant the US statements that nations external to the Western Hemisphere should not have any interests there.

"They [US attempts to meddle with the Venezuela crisis] are arrogant and great-power, while their show-off permissiveness is not only about Venezuela," Lavrov said in an interview with the Russian daily Moskovsky Komsomolets published on Wednesday.

"It was said that the next in line are Nicaragua and Cuba, and therefore any other country, regime or government the United States does not like," he added.

"What do they mean by insolent remarks that the countries external the Western Hemisphere are not allowed to have any interests there? But what is the United States doing? Take a look at the map of the US military bases: the entire world is dotted with red spots and each of them poses rather serious risks," Lavrov summed up.

On March 29, John Bolton, US President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, said commenting on the arrival of Russian warplanes to Venezuela that the United States warned any nation external to the Western Hemisphere against deploying military assets there and that Washington would consider "such provocative actions as a direct threat to international peace and security in the region."

Juan Guaido, Venezuelan opposition leader and parliament speaker, whose appointment to that position had been cancelled by the country’s Supreme Court, declared himself interim president at a rally in the country’s capital of Caracas on January 23. Several countries, including the United States, Lima Group members (excluding Mexico), as well as the Organization of American States, recognized him as president. In contrast, Russia, Belarus, Bolivia, Iran, China, Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Syria and Turkey voiced support for Maduro.

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Sergey Lavrov United States Cuba Donald Trump

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