Venezuelan President to Hold Talks with Russian Counterpart

Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro will hold talks with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Wednesday and discuss the “direct interference of third countries in Latin American affairs,” Kremlin reported.

Both leaders will talk about “various aspects of bilateral cooperation” and exchange views on “regional issues, especially Latin American,” the Russian Presidency spokesperson Dmitri Peskov said.

He also mentioned that one of the meeting’s themes will be the “implementation of joint projects”, although Peskov said that no documents will be signed at the end of the meeting.​​​​

In an interview with Russian state television Rossiya 24 on the eve of the visit to Moscow, Maduro accused the United States of plans to interfere in the legislative elections in Venezuela scheduled for 2020.

Before departing to Russia, the Venezuelan president also said that he plans to “review all the dynamics” of bilateral relations and that his agenda will include meetings with Russian “important business groups.”

On September 20, Russia expressed concern about the activation of the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (TIAR) against the Bolivarian country.

“The situation around that country remains alarming because of, to a large extent, Washington’s policy, which irresponsibly promotes a military intervention,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, adding that the U.S. acts in a hypocritical way in so far as it simultaneously bets on contradictory options.

“The U.S. blame the failure of the negotiations… on the Venezuelan government. It is hard to imagine a more hypocritical statement,” Zakharova commented.

Russia has been one of Maduro’s biggest backers in the face of what it has described as unacceptable U.S. efforts to undermine him, providing loans and help for Venezuela’s military and oil industry.