Russia, China Absent From UN Security Council Meeting on Venezuela

A number of UN Security Council members, including Russia and China, refused to be part of discussions on Venezuela as being among threats to international peace and security because the country does not represent a threat, Venezuelan Ambassador to the United Nations Rafael Dario Ramirez Carreno told reporters on Monday.

UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) — Earlier in the day, the United States called for a so-called Aria meeting at the UN Security Council to discuss the situation in Venezuela.

Arria-formula meetings, named after Venezuelan Ambassador Diego Arria who initiated the practice in 1992 as the representative of Venezuela on the UN Security Council, are informal confidential consultations that enable member states to have a private exchange of views within a flexible procedural framework.

Carreno characterized the US proposal to organize such a meeting a "political manipulation" in an effort by the United States to raise bilateral issues with Venezuela in the context of a multilateral platform.

That way, Carreno said, the United States is trying to subvert the UN Security Council’s role as a guarantor of international peace and security.

"Very important countries such as Russia, China, Bolivia and Egypt are absent from the meeting, and there are only a few ambassadors in attendance as they understand that Venezuela is not part of the agenda of the Security Council because it does not pose a threat to international peace and security," Carreno said on Monday.

The United States has been actively criticizing the Venezuelan government for human rights violations. On November 9, Washington introduced new sanctions on ten current and former Venezuelan officials for their role in allegedly undermining the country's electoral process, censorship and corruption.