Putin, Maduro hold talks in Moscow
http://www.hrlnews.com/2019/09/putin-maduro-hold-talks-in-moscow.html
Russian President Vladimir Putin has met with his Venezuelan
counterpart, Nicolas Maduro, in Moscow amid the ongoing political crisis
in the South American country.
Maduro arrived in Moscow on September 24. Russia has been one of
Maduro’s rare steadfast allies in the face of what it has described as
U.S. efforts to undermine him.
Despite Venezuela’s extreme economic and political crisis, Moscow has kept supporting Maduro with generous loans.
Neither Putin nor Maduro spoke about any financial aid in their
opening remarks. But Putin said Russia has invested so far some $4
billion in Venezuela.
Putin told Maduro that Russia backed dialogue between the government
and opposition to find a way out of Venezuela’s political crisis.
Separately, Russian news agency Interfax reported that Russia planned
to supply up to 600,000 tons of grain to Venezuela this year.
Maduro’s visit also comes the day after U.S. President Donald Trump
delivered a warning to Venezuela, denouncing Maduro in his speech at the
United Nations.
Venezuela’s opposition said earlier this month that a dialogue
mediated by Norway to try to resolve the crisis in Venezuela had ended,
six weeks after Maduro’s government suspended its participation.
Maduro’s representatives walked away from the table in August to
protest against U.S. President Donald Trump’s tightening of sanctions on
Caracas.
Meanwhile, diplomatic sources in Brussels, speaking on condition of
anonymity, said the European Union had approved sanctions on seven more
Venezuelan officials over torture and other human rights abuses, as the
bloc seeks to keep up pressure on Maduro.
Ambassadors from the 28-member bloc gave their backing to the
measures in a meeting on September 25, bringing to 25 the number of
Venezuelan officials under EU travel bans and asset freezes.
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