Russia calls US sanctions on Venezuela a tool of genocide amid pandemic

Russia said on Friday US “narco-terrorism” charges against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro were absurd, adding that sanctions on Caracas could become “a tool of genocide” amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Iran Press/Europe: The US government on Thursday 26 March indicted Maduro and more than a dozen other top Venezuelan officials on charges of “narco-terrorism,” the latest escalation of the Trump administration’s pressure campaign aimed at ousting the socialist leader.

According to Reuters, Russia considers those accusations “absurd” and “wild” at a time when countries across the world join efforts to fight coronavirus, Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

“We can not stress enough our call for an immediate lifting of unilateral unlawful sanctions that are turning in the current epidemic into an instrument of genocide,” Zakharova was quoted as saying.

Zakharova said Russia had supplied coronavirus test kits to Venezuela, which has reported 107 confirmed cases of the disease and that Moscow would continue helping Caracas to stop coronavirus spreading.

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