The Venezuelan Foreign Minister, Félix Plasencia, condemned the sanctions against Russia and described them as illegal.
In an exclusive interview for Sputnik, he talked about the sanctions imposed on Russia by the United States and the European Union, the friendship between Caracas and Moscow and how anachronistic NATO is, he assured that his country “strongly condemns” the sanctions against Russia and even calls them illegal.
“Unilateral measures are illegal. They are a violation of the Charter of the United Nations and the principles of the international community that cannot be accepted”, he stated. He stressed that sanctions only lead to unilateralism instead of contributing to the unity of the countries.
The Foreign Minister recalled that Venezuela also suffered unilateral sanctions. The Russian government “has been supporting us for the past year, and we thank them. And today, we are here to raise our voice against the imposition of sanctions on Russian citizens and the Russian government,” he added. he.
Lavrov, the friend of Venezuela
Plasencia described his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, as “a dear friend” of his country. During their recent bilateral meeting, the foreign ministers of Venezuela and Russia discussed bilateral relations and the strategic alliance of their countries.
“Together we designed an agreement that protects the world energy market, and for this we have OPEC+,” said the minister, who added that this organization not only protects the interests of oil producers, but also those of consumers, since it has a “responsible approach” to prices, the market and agreements between producers (both OPEC members and non-OPEC members) and consumers.
He described the meeting with Lavrov as very “complete and very cordial” and affirms that he has already invited the Russian foreign minister to Venezuela.
“We insist on the invitation. I hope you find time for this important visit. I’m sure this is going to happen soon,” she added.
“NATO should not exist”
The chancellor also spoke about the expansion of NATO towards the borders of Russia. In his opinion, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization “should not exist”, since it has already become an “anachronism”.
The minister recalled that NATO exists and was created “with the aim of attacking the East and now it is not necessary. It has been an anachronism since its inception. It should never have existed. It is an institution for wars, for attacks, for weapons, an institution that promotes differences, wars and means death », he pointed out.
He also branded NATO’s expansion towards the Russian border as “aggression”. Similarly, he addressed the issue of sanctions imposed on the Russian language and culture.
“This is despicable, despicable. It is awful. It goes against humanity and against the human being. The values of Russian culture are part of the values of world heritage. It’s despicable, horrible, xenophobic. We denounce it very strongly.”
The importance of unity
The foreign minister declared that the solidarity and integration of the countries of Latin America are fundamental, since it is “a path forward.” He recalled that like Cuba and Nicaragua, Venezuela has been suffering sanctions from Washington for many years. At the same time, some Latin American countries have joined and even “salute the US military bases in their territory.”
According to Plasencia, the long history of the two countries should have been one of “progress in unity, understanding and respect for our leaders who founded free states in the past: George Washington in the north and Simón Bolívar in the south.”
The foreign minister was convinced that freedom, sovereignty and respect should replace unilateral sanctions, which “are unacceptable in the international community” and go against the Charter of the United Nations.
“Together with Russia, China and many other countries that uphold the entire body of the United Nations Charter, we proclaim peace, understanding and multilateralism, and not unilateralism and the imposition of sanctions. We cannot stress this enough, we are very much against this, we will always raise our voices against sanctions.”
