Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered his support to embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in a phone call.
Mr Putin “expressed support to the legitimate government of Venezuela amid the acute political crisis that has been provoked from the outside”, the Kremlin said.
Telephone conversation with Nicolas Maduro. Vladimir Putin expressed his support for the legitimate Venezuelan authorities https://t.co/2zqLg2q6Go
— President of Russia (@KremlinRussia_E) January 24, 2019
The Russian leader emphasised that “destructive foreign interference tramples on basic norms of the international law”.
The Kremlin statement said Mr Putin called for “overcoming differences in the Venezuelan society through peaceful dialogue”.
It added that the two leaders underlined a shared intention to “continue the Russian-Venezuelan cooperation in various spheres”.
Russia has been a key sponsor and ally of Venezuela, and last month it deployed two Tu-160 nuclear-capable bombers to Venezuela for several days.
