Putin orders diplomats’ families evacuate from | Political News

With fears of U.S. army motion in Venezuela growing, Russia has began evacuating the families of its diplomats in the nation. 

According to a European intelligence official, Moscow‘s overseas ministry officers are assessing the state of affairs in Venezuela in “very grim tones.” The evacuation of families began last Friday, the official told the Associated Press. However, the Russian Foreign Ministry posted on Facebook, calling the reports “A LIE.”

Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Yván Gil on Monday said he spoke by phone with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, who he said expressed Russia’s support for Venezuela against Trump’s declared blockade of sanctioned oil tankers.

“We reviewed the aggressions and flagrant violations of international law that have been committed in the Caribbean: attacks against vessels and extrajudicial executions, and the unlawful acts of piracy carried out by the United States government,” Gil said in a assertion.

On Monday, President Donald Trump delivered a new warning to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro as the U.S. Coast Guard steps up efforts to interdict oil tankers in the Caribbean Sea as part of the Republican administration’s escalating pressure campaign on the government in Caracas.

Trump has accused Maduro of leading an international drug trafficking cartel and said it “would be smart” for him to step down. The U.S. has placed a bounty on Maduro’s head worth $50 million.

“If he wants to do something, if he plays tough, it’ll be the last time he’ll ever be able to play tough,” the president said in Florida, as he announced plans for the U.S. Navy to build a new warship. On the same day, Russia pledged its “full support and solidarity” to Venezuela’s leadership, expressing “deep concern” over the situation in the Caribbean.

Earlier last week, Russia warned the U.S. not to make the “fatal mistake” of embarking on military intervention in Venezuela, warning that any escalation of the situation “could lead to unpredictable consequences for the entire Western Hemisphere.”

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The Defense Department, under Trump’s orders, continues its marketing campaign of assaults on smaller vessels in the Caribbean and jap Pacific Ocean that it alleges are carrying medication to the United States and past.

At least 105 people have been killed in 29 identified strikes since early September. The strikes have confronted scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers and human rights activists, who say the administration has provided scant evidence that its targets are certainly drug smugglers and that the deadly strikes quantity to extrajudicial killings.