Putin supports legitimate Venezuelan authorities

Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed support for the legitimate Venezuelan authorities amidst the domestic political crisis provoked from the outside during a phone call with his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro.

“The Russian president expressed support for Venezuela’s legitimate authorities amid the exacerbation of the domestic political crisis provoked from the outside. He stressed that destructive outside interference grossly violated the fundamental norms of international law,” the Kremlin press service reported.

Vladimir Putin has spoken in favor of search for solutions within the framework of the Constitution and overcoming differences in the Venezuelan society through a peace dialogue.

In a phone call with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Putin pointed out that “destructive interference from outside grossly violates the fundamental norms of international law”.

On January 23, Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guiado declared himself acting president during an opposition rally in Caracas. Venezuela’s incumbent President Nicolas Maduro described these developments as an attempted coup organized by Washington and said he was breaking diplomatic ties with the US.

The Lima Group member-countries, except for Mexico, as well as Albania, Georgia, the US and the Organization of American States (OAS) have already recognized Guiado as Venezuela’s interim president. Some EU countries supported Venezuela’s parliament, expressing hope that elections will be held to resolve the crisis.

Russia, Bolivia, Iran, Cuba, Nicaragua and Turkey expressed their support for Maduro. Belarus and China called for resolving all disagreements peacefully and spoke out against outside interference, while the UN secretary general spoke out in favor of dialogue to find a solution to the crisis.