Russia offered “all its cooperation” and support to Venezuela against the blockade of ships by the United States, as stated this Monday (22) by the Venezuelan Foreign Minister, Yván Gil, in a context in which Donald Trump’s government maintains a military deployment in the waters of the Caribbean Sea and has already confiscated two oil tankers.
On his Telegram channel, Gil indicated that he spoke by telephone with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, with whom he reviewed what he called “aggressions” and “violations” of international law, referring to attacks against vessels allegedly linked to drug trafficking – which he described as “extrajudicial executions” in the Caribbean – and “illegal acts of piracy” by the United States.
“Lavrov firmly expressed Russia’s solidarity with the people of Venezuela and the president [ditador] Nicolás Maduro Moros, and ratified his full support in the face of hostilities against our country”, declared the Venezuelan chancellor, who anticipated that Russia will express its “full support” for Venezuela at next Tuesday’s meeting of the UN Security Council.
Last Saturday, Gil also stated that he had received from Iran an offer of cooperation “in all areas” to confront “piracy and international terrorism” from the United States.
On Telegram, the Venezuelan minister said he had received a call from his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, during which they analyzed “recent events in the Caribbean, especially threats, acts of piracy by the United States and the theft of ships loaded with Venezuelan oil.”
This Sunday, the United States was carrying out an operation to intercept a third oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea, near the coast of Venezuela, according to the American press, one day after the seizure of a Panamanian-flagged ship that, according to Washington, was trafficking sanctioned oil within the Venezuelan “ghost fleet”.
This is the second tanker that Washington has attempted to intercept this weekend under Trump’s orders and the third after the intensification of efforts by the United States to cut off the flow of oil from Venezuela, within the growing pressure exerted by the White House on the regime of Nicolás Maduro.
On the 10th, the United States seized the sanctioned ship Skipper and confiscated the Venezuelan oil it was transporting.
Days later, Trump ordered a total blockade of oil tankers sanctioned by the US government entering and leaving the country, as part of pressure on Maduro, whom Washington accuses of leading a drug trafficking network.
