MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th May, 2019) Washington is strangling Venezuela with sanctions, hoping to drag the Latin American nation into chaos, but US-backed coup attempts in the country have failed, Leonid Slutsky, the head of the Russian lower house's International Affairs Committee, said on Friday.
Earlier in the day, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on two Venezuelan shipping companies and two of their vessels for allegedly transporting oil from Venezuela to Cuba. The Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designations targeted the Monsoon Navigation Corporation, based in the Marshall Islands, along with one of its registered vessels, Ocean Elegance.
"By introducing and expanding sanctions against Venezuela and its companies, the United States continues unlawful pressure of the legitimate authorities of the Bolivarian Republic. This is frank, rude and blatant interference in the affairs of a sovereign state," Slutsky told reporters.
According to the lawmaker, Washington is slashing the nation with sanctions in the hope to bring Venezuela to chaos.
"However, all US-backed coup attempts in Venezuela have failed. That's why, the expansion of sanctions is some kind of revenge for bringing the rebels to justice," Slutsky concluded.
Washington has in recent months attempted to shut down Venezuela's oil trade in order to force President Nicolas Maduro out of office. Maduro, the legitimately-elected president, has repeatedly accused Washington of trying to orchestrate a coup in the country in order to seize Venezuela's riches, including its oil, gold, gas, diamonds and other natural resources.
