MOSCOW, April 30. /TASS/. Moscow urges the radical Venezuelan opposition to abandon the use of violence for political purposes, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
"The radical Venezuelan opposition has once again taken to using force. Instead of searching for peaceful solutions to differences, it seeks to raise tensions and provoke public disorder, as well as clashes involving the armed forces. We call for abandoning violence. It is important to avoid unrest and bloodshed," the statement reads.
Moscow is confident that the issues Venezuela is facing "should be resolved through negotiations without preconditions." "All actions should be in line with the constitution, while foreign interference in unacceptable," the statement says.
The Ministry confirmed that Russia believes "it is up to the Venezuelan people to resolve internal differences through political means."
The Russian Foreign Ministry also addressed the entire international community, including Venezuela’s neighbors, calling on them "to reaffirm commitment to the UN Charter and international law and assist Venezuela in returning to the path of stable development based on dialogue between all of the country’s responsible political forces."
"We believe it is highly important to ensure unbiased coverage of developments in Venezuela. The media should not reproduce fake news, turning into a willing tool for biased political forces that seek to escalate tensions in the country," the statement adds.
Situation in Venezuela
On January 23, Venezuelan opposition leader and parliament speaker Juan Guaido, 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.
Several countries, including the United States, Lima Group members (excluding Mexico), Australia, Albania, Georgia and Israel, as well as the Organization of American States, recognized him. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, in turn, blasted the move as a coup staged by Washington and said he was severing diplomatic ties with the US. On February 4, most of the European Union member states recognized Guaido as Venezuela’s interim president. In contrast, Russia, Belarus, Bolivia, Iran, Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Syria and Turkey voiced support for Maduro, while China called for resolving all differences peacefully and warned against foreign interference. The United Nations secretary general, in turn, called for dialogue to resolve the crisis.
Earlier on Tuesday, Guaido posted a video on Twitter, calling on the Venezuelan military to take to the streets to end the "usurpation." He claimed that the video had been recorded at the Francisco de Miranda airbase in Caracas. The video shows Guaido, a group of army officers and leader of the Voluntad Popular (or Popular Will) opposition party Leopoldo Lopez, who is currently under house arrest.