Washington is actively looking for ways to diversify supplies from Moscow.
The United States is ready to gradually relax sanctions against Venezuela, the senior director for Western Hemisphere Affairs at the White House National Security Council, Juan Gonzalez, said. opposition.
Unblocking the export of oil from Venezuela would be useful for the USA, which is looking for additional sources of raw materials against the background of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and is preparing for an oil embargo.
< p>Washington seeks to expand the international consensus in favor of democracy in Venezuela and concentrates on dialogue, the direction of which is set by the Venezuelans themselves, González clarified.
“We have signaled very clearly that we are ready to ease sanctions based on progress in the negotiations. And we will re-introduce these sanctions if there is a regression or lack of negotiations,” he explained.
Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the world – explored reserves reach more than 300 billion barrels (in Russia – 80 billion barrels). Before the default in 2017, the country produced 3 million barrels per day, after – about 800 thousand.
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Venezuela has been under US oil sanctions since 2019, following mass protests led by Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido. The Supreme Court annulled the appointment of Guaido as speaker of the parliament, after which the oppositionist declared himself acting president.
The United States, the countries The Lima Group (with the exception of Mexico), the Organization of American States and most EU members.
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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro called the event an attempted coup and announced the severance of diplomatic relations with the United States. The Russian Federation, Belarus, Iran, China, Cuba, Nicaragua, Syria and Turkey expressed their support for it.
