By imposing sanctions on Venezuela’s top diplomat, Jorge Arreaza, the United States is seeking to disrupt the country’s diplomatic contacts, including within the United Nations framework, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday.
“Again and again, Washington has been demonstrating strong rejection of negotiations as a means of settling the situation,” the ministry said.
“In essence, the United States deliberately eliminates all opportunities for a civilized dialogue with the legitimate government in Caracas, seeks to disrupt their international contacts, including in the UN headquarters in New York,” it said.
The ministry said it viewed such actions as “a demonstration of an increasingly aggressive US policy to discredit the international diplomacy and replace it with dictate.”
Russian diplomats urged the United States to stop the policy of blackmail and return to the international legal field.
“We call on the United States to eventually return to the international legal field, stop the policy of blackmail and provoking tensions in Venezuela from the outside. The global community should assist in creating an inclusive intra-Venezuelan dialogue. There is no alternative to this,” the ministry said.
On Friday, April 26, the US Department of the Treasury added Jorge Arreaza, Venezuelan foreign minister since 2017, to its sanctions list.