MOSCOW. April 25 (Interfax) - The United States has not ceased attempts to accomplish a coup in Venezuela after its attempt to depose the sitting Venezuelan government failed in February, Russian General Staff's Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) chief Igor Kostyukov said.
"The U.S.' disruptive activities against the Bolivarian Republic are continuing. It is devising various options to depose the Chavist government, from providing preconditions for growth in protest sentiments and their gradual transformation into a social explosion to the implementation of forcible scenarios in relation to Caracas," Kostyukov said at the Moscow Conference on International Security on Thursday.
"Fearing to employ its national armed forces, Washington is seeking to arrange an invasion by the agency of its allies, primarily Colombia," he said.
"In addition, illegal armed groups are being put together, comprising Venezuelan deserters, members of criminal groups from Central American states, and Colombian insurgent units, which have already been employed to commit acts of subversion at the Bolivarian Republic's infrastructural facilities," Kostyukov said.
"The Americans have no problems with the fact that their actions primarily harm ordinary civilians whose interests the United States is seemingly defending," he said.
"In fact, Washington is about to declare the leadership of the Bolivarian Republic a 'sponsor of international terrorism' and, under this pretext, use force against and impose sanctions on Caracas," he said.
In February 2019, "an attempt of 'humanitarian invasion' in the republic was made from Brazil and Colombia, aiming to provoke major acts of disobedience and prompt the army and police to use weapons to restore order," he said.
"However, the American Blitzkrieg against Venezuela has failed. Washington has miscalculated durability of the republic's legitimate government, its support by the population, and determination of Venezuelan security forces to defend the constitutional system. The plan of a bloody clash between the army and the people has also proven unrealistic," Kostyukov said.
U.S. President Donald Trump set the goal on February 18 to secure the deposition of the leftist governments in Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba in a short time, so as to completely transform Latin America into a geographical zone fully controlled by the United States, Kostyukov said.
"In relation to Venezuela, some practical steps have already been taken to destabilize the domestic political situation in the country through the consolidation of opposition forces, the organization of major protests with their assistance, and, what counts most, the launching of 'hybrid' aggression against the republic. This includes the formation of 'parallel' government bodies controlled by the United States, including the actual 'appointment' by Washington of Venezuelan parliamentary speaker Juan Guaido a provisional president and his official recognition by its allies. This also includes the accreditation of the Bolivarian Republic's alternative ambassadors to foreign states and representatives in international organizations. This also includes the seizure of diplomatic and other government property abroad, the freezing of assets and gold and foreign currency reserves, and the imposition of sanctions," he said.
"The Organization of American States, the informal Lima Group, the European Union, and influential international financial institutions have been involved in implementing the plans of a color revolution in Venezuela," he said.
"With Donald Trump's appearance at the White House, the U.S. administration has taken the course toward an aggressive promotion of American interests in the region," he said.
"By interfering in internal affairs of sovereign states, the United States has expanded the 'club of its friends' by bringing into power political and economic elites loyal to Washington. At the present time, the White House has actually turned the Organization of American States into a tool to suppress dissidence among the members of this association and to promote its own regional interests. The Lima Group could be seen as a clear example of an extremely dangerous trend of setting up informal institutions controlled by the White House to suit its 'concrete needs'. Their activities are not regulated by any statutory provisions or legal norms, which makes such 'groups' convenient for making and implementing decisions that look dubious from the standpoint of international law," he said.
Being guided by an updated Monroe Doctrine, Washington openly makes the provision of economic, military-technical, humanitarian, and other assistance to Latin American countries dependent on their position on relevant political problems, so securing the promotion of its interests in the region, including by putting pressure on its opponents, Kostyukov said.
"One of the vivid examples is the suspension of Venezuela's membership of the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) in August 2017, formally at the insistence of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay," he said.