Lavrov: Russia helping Venezuela with wheat supplies

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Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday that Russia was helping Venezuela with supplies of wheat, but did not elaborate.

He made the comment at a joint news conference with Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, who was visiting Moscow.

Russia has supplied 64,100 tonnes of wheat to Venezuela so far in the 2018/19 marketing season, data from Russia's SovEcon agriculture consultancy showed on Feb. 18.

At the news conference, Rodriguez said that President Nicolas Maduro had ordered a European office of state oil company PDVSA to move to Moscow.

The U.S. has recently announced new sanctions on Venezuelan officials loyal to Maduro.

Venezuela's Vice-President Delcy Rodriguez and workers of the state oil company of Venezuela PDVSA participate in an "anti-imperialist" march to support Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, in Caracas, Venezuela, January 31, 2019. /VCG Photo

On Monday, during a meeting in Bogota of the Lima Group, a Latin American bloc aligned with Washington and its push to unseat Maduro, Pence said the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on four Venezuelan governors for their pro-government stance.

Pence also said more financial sanctions were coming, calling on U.S. regional partners to help choke off Venezuela's access to financing by freezing or blocking assets belonging to state oil company PDVSA.

The political crisis in Venezuela shows no sign of dying down, as the opposition leader Juan Guaido, who declared himself as the interim president of Venezuela in January and gained solid support from the U.S., insisted on holding new elections in the country.

Maduro called Guaido's move "unconstitutional" and vowed to devote his life "to the defense of the country."

He has also accused Washington of orchestrating a coup d'etat in order to install a puppet regime in Venezuela.

(With inputs from Xinhua)

Source(s): Reuters