By Mark Trevelyan
Dec 11 (Reuters) – Russia and its close ally Belarus reached out to Venezuela’s embattled leader, Nicolas Maduro, on Thursday as U.S. President Donald Trump ramps up pressure for his removal, raising the possibility he could seek refuge abroad.
Maduro told Trump in a phone call on November 21 that he was ready to leave Venezuela, provided that he and his family had full legal amnesty, sources have told Reuters.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Thursday held his second meeting in 17 days with Jesus Rafael Salazar Velazquez, the Venezuelan ambassador to Moscow.
According to Belarusian state news agency Belta, Lukashenko told the envoy on November 25 that Maduro was always welcome in Belarus and it was time for him to pay a visit.
On Thursday, Belta quoted Lukashenko as reminding Velazquez they had agreed at the first meeting to “coordinate certain matters” with Maduro.
“We agreed that, after resolving certain issues, you would find time to come to me and meet again so we could make the appropriate decision, which is within our competence. And if necessary, we will then involve the president of Venezuela.”
Reuters requested comment from Lukashenko’s office on the significance of the meetings and whether Belarus would be willing to offer sanctuary to Maduro if he stepped down. It did not respond.
The Kremlin said President Vladimir Putin, in a phone call to the Venezuelan leader on Thursday, “reaffirmed his support for the policy of N. Maduro’s government, aimed at protecting national interests and sovereignty in the face of growing external pressure.”
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The Trump administration has said it does not recognise Maduro, in power since 2013, as Venezuela’s legitimate president. He claimed to have won reelection last year in a vote dismissed as a sham by the U.S. and other Western governments. Independent observers said the opposition had won overwhelmingly.
In recent months, Trump has intensified pressure on Venezuela, not least with a massive military build-up in the Caribbean.
In an interview with Politico this week, Trump said Maduro’s “days are numbered,” while declining to say whether he would be willing to send U.S. troops into Venezuela.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters on Thursday: “We hope that the White House will manage to prevent a further slide into a full-scale conflict, which threatens to have unpredictable consequences for the entire Western Hemisphere.”
Lukashenko, the veteran authoritarian leader of Belarus, has friendly ties with Venezuela and has also this year entered a dialogue with the Trump administration, after years of being shunned by Washington and other Western governments over his human rights record and support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Trump has started to ease U.S. sanctions on Belarus and last month named a special envoy, John Coale, to pursue further negotiations with Lukashenko on the release of political prisoners.
(Reporting by Mark Trevelyan in London and Dmitry Antonov and Ksenia Orlova in MoscowEditing by Rod Nickel)
Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the Reuters news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.