CARACAS, January 11. /TASS/. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has said that he will have a meeting with Russian State Duma (lower house) Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin who presented Moscow during the inauguration ceremony of the Venezuelan leader.
"I have a meeting with Russian President [Vladimir] Putin’s special envoy [Volodin] planned," Maduro said at a rally supporting his inauguration as Venezuelan President, adding that he would also have meetings with the Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s envoy and prime ministers of a number of countries.
Maduro won the presidential election on July 28, 2024 with 51.95% of the vote, while his main rival, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, scored 43.18%. One of the opposition leaders, Maria Corina Machado, said on the voting day that Gonzalez’s team would not recognize defeat.
Russia, Bolivia, Honduras, Iran, China, Cuba, Nicaragua and other countries congratulated Maduro on his victory. However, a number of countries, including the United States, did not recognize Maduro’s re-election and stand in support of Gonzalez.