US Venezuela special representative Elliott Abrams threatened Moscow with new sanctions on Friday over Russia’s military cooperation with Venezuela, saying the Kremlin would be made to “pay a price” for its assistance to the Latin American country. Moscow and Caracas have stressed that the cooperation is in full accordance with a defence agreement.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova blasted Washington over its “attempts to intimidate” Moscow over its legitimate defence cooperation with Venezuela, saying this effort was “ridiculous.”
“The arrival of Russian experts specialising in military-technical cooperation in Venezuela continues to provoke a nervous reaction in Washington. [US officials] have even begun saying that the US would consider the appearance of the representatives of armed forces from countries outside the Western Hemisphere as a provocative action posing a threat to regional peace and security,” Zakharova said in a statement published by the Foreign Ministry on Saturday.
Zakharova also refuted US claims that Russian Defence Ministry’s specialists aim to conduct “military operations” in Venezuela. The Russian Foreign Ministry clarified the presence of Russian military experts in the Latin American country, emphasising that the specialists are in no way a “military contingent.”
Referring to this week’s threats from Washington over the matter, Moscow stated that the US reaction seemed to be linked to the fact that its “planned prompt coup in Caracas has not succeeded.”