Venezuela and Russia Strengthen Bilateral Cooperation

On Monday, Venezuela's Foreign Affairs Minister Carlos Faria met in Moscow with his counterpart Sergey Lavrov to strengthen bilateral cooperation in the face of Western sanctions.

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"The Venezuelan government condemns the large number of sanctions that have been brought against the Federation of Russia and its inhabitants," Faria said, adding that those sanctions did not succeed in their purposes for the Russian economy "continues forward."

Besides recalling that the intention of the western powers is to prolong the Ukrainian conflict, Faria praised Russia's willingness to sit at a dialogue process to reach an agreement that could satisfy the interests of the parties in conflict.

"We condemn the application of these illegal sanctions against any country. The United Nations exists to deal with any problem and it can exercise such an action when its members consider it necessary. But not in this way," the Bolivarian diplomat pointed out.

For his part, Lavrov highlighted the resilience of the Venezuelan economy in the face of external pressure and stressed that Moscow and Caracas consider the freezing of sovereign states' accounts as "a flagrant theft" and a "brutal violation of the economic and social rights.

He also recalled that Russia and Venezuela oppose U.S. attempts to promote a "rules-based order" because it resurrects 19th-century colonialist mores. Lavrov reiterated that the international order must be governed by the United Nations Charter.

“We celebrate the normalization of the situation in Venezuela. We see that thanks to the responsible and competent policy of President Nicolas Maduro's administration, the country is back on the path of sustained development,” he stressed.

After the meeting between ministers, Russia and Venezuela agreed to promote joint projects in the areas of energy, pharmaceuticals, industries, transportation, and technical-military collaboration.

Both countries also finalized the necessary procedures for the entry into force of the collaboration agreement in space, which will allow Venezuela to place a station of the Russian global positioning system Glonass.