MOSCOW. Jan 24 (Interfax) - Russia will continue to support Venezuela, which is now encountering growing pressure from the United States, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said.
"As we follow the development of the situation in Venezuela, we see that a certain group of countries, among them the U.S., are willing to use different platforms, including the Organization of American States, to step up pressure on Venezuela, which is our friend, under various pretexts," Ryabkov said in an interview with the journal International Affairs.
"We have supported and will continue to support Venezuela, which is our friend and our strategic partner," he said.
"We will stand shoulder to shoulder, if you will, with this country, guarding its sovereignty and the unacceptability of encroaching upon the principle of non-interference in [other states'] internal affairs," Ryabkov said.
"Material cooperation, practical cooperation between Russia and Venezuela will continue in different spheres. We have absolutely no intention of scaling it down," he said.