Putin says U.S. military intervention in Venezuela would be a disaster

ST PETERSBURG: Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Thursday that U.S. military intervention in Venezuela would be a disaster and said even Washington’s allies did not support such a course of action.

Speaking at an economic forum in St Petersburg, Putin also said that Russian technical specialists remained in Venezuela in order to service Russian military hardware, something he said they were contractually obliged to do.

However, he said Moscow was not setting up any special military bases in Venezuela, a close Russian ally.

Earlier on May 3, US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin had discussed the crisis in oil-rich Venezuela, where Washington had thrown its weight behind a campaign to oust the Moscow-backed socialist president.

“Very productive talk!” tweeted the US leader following their conversation, which had came three days after an abortive military uprising in support of Juan Guaido, the self-declared interim leader seeking to oust President Nicolas Maduro.

US-Russian tensions had spiked over the months-long standoff in Venezuela, where Moscow had accused the United States of fomenting a coup against Maduro.