Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday denied reports that it was evacuating staff from its embassy in Venezuela as the United States steps up pressure on the government of President Nicolás Maduro.
The denial followed a report by The Associated Press, which cited an anonymous European intelligence official as saying that Moscow had begun evacuating the families of Russian diplomats from Venezuela last Friday.
In a post on X, the Foreign Ministry dismissed the report as false but did not specifically address whether the families of diplomats had been relocated. “Be careful and don’t fall for Western provocations!” the ministry said.
The AP report said Russian officials had privately assessed the situation in Venezuela in “very grim terms” as Washington intensified military operations and warnings directed at Caracas.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke by phone on Monday with his Venezuelan counterpart Yván Gil, expressing what the ministry described as Moscow’s “full support” for Maduro’s government and “serious concern” over escalating U.S. actions in the Caribbean Sea.
Gil condemned recent U.S. strikes on sanctioned vessels, describing them as “unlawful acts of piracy.”
Since September, U.S. forces have carried out strikes on boats that the Trump Administration alleges were involved in drug trafficking in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. U.S. officials have not publicly provided evidence to support the claims.
More than 100 people have been killed in the operations, according to families of the victims and officials, with fishermen among the dead.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Washington’s “increasingly escalatory actions” could have “far-reaching consequences for the region” and pose a threat to international shipping. It reiterated Moscow’s solidarity with Venezuela’s leadership.
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