Following overnight U.S. strikes on\u00a0Caracas, Venezuela\u2019s capital, President Donald Trump said on\u00a0January 3 that American special forces had captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and taken them out of\u00a0the country. The United States has formally charged the Maduros with narcoterrorism, cocaine trafficking, and illegal weapons possession, and plans to\u00a0prosecute them in\u00a0American courts.<\/p>\n
Moscow\u2019s response<\/strong><\/p>\n At\u00a0the time of\u00a0writing, Russia\u2019s Foreign Ministry had issued four separate statements on\u00a0Washington\u2019s military operation in\u00a0Venezuela, denouncing<\/a> it\u00a0as\u00a0\u201carmed aggression by\u00a0the United States against Venezuela.\u201d \u201cIdeologized animosity has prevailed over pragmatic engagement,\u201d the ministry declared in\u00a0its first statement. In\u00a0a\u00a0second statement<\/a>, released two hours later, Moscow commented on\u00a0early reports of\u00a0the Maduros\u2019 abduction, calling it\u00a0\u201can\u00a0unacceptable violation of\u00a0the sovereignty of\u00a0an\u00a0independent state, the respect for which is\u00a0a\u00a0fundamental principle of\u00a0international law.\u201d<\/p>\n Hours later, Moscow reported<\/a> that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had spoken by\u00a0phone with Maduro\u2019s vice president, Delcy Rodr\u00edguez, and reaffirmed their \u201cmutual commitment to\u00a0bolster up\u00a0comprehensive [sic] strategic partnership between Russia and Venezuela.\u201d Roughly 20 minutes later, the ministry responded<\/a> to\u00a0confirmation that the Maduros were now in\u00a0American custody, saying, \u201cWe\u00a0strongly urge the U.S. leadership to\u00a0reconsider their position and release the legitimately elected president of\u00a0a\u00a0sovereign country and his spouse.\u201d<\/p>\n Kyiv\u2019s response<\/strong><\/p>\n Writing on\u00a0X<\/a>, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said that \u201cthe Maduro regime\u201d had violated human rights and \u201cthe right of\u00a0nations to\u00a0live freely,\u201d stressing that Kyiv does not recognize Maduro\u2019s legitimacy. \u201cThe people of\u00a0Venezuela must have a\u00a0chance for a\u00a0normal life, security, prosperity, and human dignity,\u201d Sybiha said, adding that Ukraine supports \u201cfurther developments in\u00a0accordance with the principles of\u00a0international law.\u201d<\/p>\n At\u00a0the time of\u00a0writing, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had not commented on\u00a0Saturday\u2019s events in\u00a0Venezuela. He\u00a0last tweeted about the nation in\u00a0August 2024, when he\u00a0condemned reports of\u00a0Russian mercenaries reinforcing government forces. \u201cThis is\u00a0a\u00a0clear example of\u00a0Russia\u2019s shameless meddling in\u00a0other countries\u2019 affairs,\u201d Zelensky tweeted<\/a> at\u00a0the time.<\/p>\n Europe\u2019s response<\/strong><\/p>\n European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen<\/a> and E.U. High Representative Kaja Kallas<\/a> used similar language in\u00a0their responses to\u00a0the U.S. attack on\u00a0Venezuela. Both officials endorsed a\u00a0\u201cpeaceful transition\u201d following Maduro\u2019s capture and stressed the need to\u00a0respect international law. \u201cThe E.U. has repeatedly stated that\u00a0Mr. Maduro lacks legitimacy,\u201d Kallas added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Following overnight U.S. strikes on\u00a0Caracas, Venezuela\u2019s capital, President Donald Trump said on\u00a0January 3 that American special forces had…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":671894,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7655],"tags":[332,7888,7883,7886,7875,7868,7880,7870,7881,7887,7876,7864,7871,7865,7873,7874,7866,7869,7867,7885,7879,7872,7884,7882,7878,7877],"class_list":{"0":"post-671893","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-russia","8":"tag-russia","9":"tag-7888","10":"tag-7883","11":"tag-7886","12":"tag-7875","13":"tag-7868","14":"tag-7880","15":"tag-7870","16":"tag-7881","17":"tag-7887","18":"tag-7876","19":"tag-7864","20":"tag-7871","21":"tag-7865","22":"tag-7873","23":"tag-7874","24":"tag-7866","25":"tag-7869","26":"tag-7867","27":"tag-7885","28":"tag-7879","29":"tag-7872","30":"tag-7884","31":"tag-7882","32":"tag-7878","33":"tag-7877"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115833137006123691","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=671893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671893\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/671894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=671893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=671893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=671893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}