Venezuelan and Russian officers met for high-level discussions within the South American nation Wednesday, a day after diplomats from the US and several other different nations gathered to debate steps towards a negotiated resolution to the nation’s protracted disaster.
The assembly between Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov and Venezuela’s Petroleum Minister Tareck El Aissami was meant to “strengthen strategic cooperation relations”, based on a press release from the Venezuelan authorities.
The assembly got here a few month after Presidents Vladimir Putin and Nicolas Maduro spoke by telephone about cooperation between their nations amid speak of attainable Russian troop deployment to Venezuela.
El Aissami stated in a press release after the assembly that the 2 sides had been “broadening the horizons of this virtuous cooperation that is based on more than 20 cooperation agreements in different areas, in which the energy sector stands out”.
Russia is a serious political ally of Venezuela, which has change into more and more remoted beneath financial sanctions imposed by the US and the European Union, accusing Maduro of undermining democratic establishments to carry onto energy. It has additionally undergone large financial and political crises.
Representatives of Maduro and the US-backed opposition gathered final 12 months in Mexico City to discover a widespread path out of their nation’s political standoff, however these discussions had been suspended in October.
Representatives from the US the EU and greater than a dozen different nations on Tuesday mentioned the significance of scheduling “free and fair” presidential elections beneath an unbiased electoral company no later than 2024 when they need to theoretically happen based on a press release from the US Department of State.
They additionally mentioned “urgently resuming inclusive negotiations in Mexico in good faith,” based on the assertion.
Russia beforehand helped Venezuela design a cryptocurrency and briefly dispatched a pair of its nuclear-capable Tu-160 bombers in 2018. It additionally offered COVID-19 vaccines.
Last month, Russia’s chief negotiator in talks with the US on tensions over Ukraine stated he would “neither confirm nor exclude” the potential of Russia sending navy property to Cuba and Venezuela if the US and its allies do not curtail their navy actions on Russia’s doorstep. The US dismissed the feedback from Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as bluster.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
