Moscow Vows ‘Tough Response’ to Attacks on Russian Investments in Venezuela

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russia will respond toughly to any attempts to strip Russian companies of their investments in Venezuela, Russian Ambassador in Caracas Vladimir Zaemskiy said on Monday.

"All our investment projects have passed checks by the Venezuelan government based on international laws and are therefore under their protection. Any attempts to take away what was invested by Russian firms in the country’s economy would be met with a tough response," he said in an interview with Russia’s Rossiyskaya Pravda newspaper.

The diplomat said risks to Russian investment in Venezuela came from Washington, which has imposed several rounds of economic sanctions on Caracas, most recently freezing assets of Venezuelan energy giant PDVSA in US banks.

In March 2018, Rosneft’s Vice President for Refining, Petrochemicals, Commerce and Logistics Didier Casimiro said that Rosneft had issued $6.5 billion, in loans to be repaid in future crude deliveries, to Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA.

READ MORE: Venezuela to Move PDVSA Office to Moscow From Lisbon — Vice President

On 28 January, the United States, which is supporting self-proclaimed Venezuelan president Juan Guaido, introduced sanctions against the Venezuelan state oil company, having blocked its assets and interests, worth of $7 billion, amid the crisis in Venezuela. Washington also prohibited any deal with the Venezuelan oil giant.