Ariana News Agency-\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Pompeo by phone that further \u201caggressive steps\u201d in Venezuela would be fraught with the gravest consequences, the Russian ministry said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Russian side underlined that interference by Washington in the internal affairs of a sovereign state and threats towards its leadership was a flagrant breach of international law,\u201d the ministry said.<\/p>\n The US State Department said Pompeo urged Russia in the call to stop supporting Maduro. He also \u201cstressed that the intervention by Russia and Cuba is destabilizing for Venezuela and for the US-Russia bilateral relationship,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n On Tuesday, Pompeo accused Russia of intervening to persuade Maduro to abandon a plan to leave the country following a call by opposition leader Juan Guaid\u00f3 for Venezuela\u2019s military to help him oust Maduro.<\/p>\n Russia rejected that allegation on Wednesday, with foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova calling it \u201cfake news.\u201d<\/p>\n The United States has criticized Russia and Cuba for working to prop up Maduro. Russia, which has supplied Venezuela with weapons and loans, says the United States is trying to encourage a coup in the Latin American country.<\/p>\n While Pompeo said earlier Wednesday that the United States was prepared to take military action if necessary, Pentagon officials told Congress they had not been given orders to prepare for war.<\/p>\n \u201cMilitary action is possible. If that\u2019s what\u2019s required, that\u2019s what the United States will do,\u201d Pompeo told Fox Business Network.<\/p>\n US officials continue to stress that they prefer a peaceful transition in the country.<\/p>\n Marchers gathered on Wednesday for planned mass street protests against Maduro.<\/p>\n Asked if Washington was considering more sanctions against Russia because of the situation, National Security Adviser John Bolton told reporters the National Security Council would meet to discuss Venezuela on Wednesday. \u201cWe\u2019ll be considering a lot of steps,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Bolton would not elaborate on what the United States knew about its accusations that Russia was influencing Maduro\u2019s plans, but he said Moscow\u2019s interference was not welcome.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is our hemisphere,\u201d Bolton said. \u201cIt\u2019s not where the Russians ought to be interfering. This is a mistake on their part. It\u2019s not going to lead to an improvement of relations.\u201d<\/p>\n Acting US Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan canceled a planned trip to Europe on Wednesday to help him better coordinate with the Trump administration on Venezuela as well as on deployments to the US border with Mexico, the Pentagon said.<\/p>\n Topics The United States and Russia traded warnings against interfering in Venezuela on Wednesday (1 May), a day after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Moscow of stopping President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro from leaving the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3016,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_mat_hreflang_tags":[],"addvideo":"","video_duration":"","farsit":"","target":"0","top_stories":"0","top":"0"},"categories":[13,18,3],"tags":[436,71,394],"class_list":["post-3015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-politics","category-world-security","category-world","tag-nicolas-maduro","tag-russia","tag-venezuela"],"acf":{"myctype":"change","target":false,"top_stories":false,"top":false,"farsit":""},"yoast_head":"\n
\nGlobal Europe Juan Guaido Mike Pompeo Nicol\u00e1s Maduro Russia Sergei Lavrov United States Venezuela Venezuelan Opposition World<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"