US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said during a press conference in Rome on Wednesday that his talks with Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio included the situation in Venezuela and Russia's alleged destabilizing activities
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th September, 2020) US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said during a press conference in Rome on Wednesday that his talks with Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio included the situation in Venezuela and Russia's alleged destabilizing activities.
"We also talked about Russia's aggressive and destabilizing behavior in Europe and around the world," Pompeo said. "I raised the importance of standing with the legitimate government of Juan Guaido and Venezuelan people as how the 60 nations do including the vast majority of the EU member states."
Pompeo is visiting Italy as part of his week-long tour in Europe's eastern Mediterranean region that involve trips to Greece, Croatia and the Vatican.
Since 2014, the United States and its allies have exerted political and economic pressure on Russia over its alleged involvement in the Ukrainian conflict as well as the referendum in Crimea that resulted in the peninsula's reunification with Russia. The United States, European Union and a number of other countries, including Canada and Australia, have since imposed several rounds of sanctions on Russia's trade, energy, banking and defense sectors.
Russia has denied the Western allegations and taken countermeasures, the most well-known being the adoption of a policy favoring domestic production over imports. Numerous European producers, especially small agricultural businesses, have decried the loss of opportunity to export produce to the Russian market and urged their respective governments to lift the sanctions.
