Mr Minister,

Dear friend,

Ladies and gentlemen,

We have just held substantive talks on nearly all aspects of our cooperation. Before that, I had a meeting with Executive Vice President of Venezuela Delcy Rodríguez.

We reaffirmed our countries’ interest in our regular dialogue based on trust, which is absolutely logical.

Venezuela is one of the most reliable and close friends of Russia in Latin America and the world as a whole. We maintain close relations of strategic partnership. They are intrinsically valuable and do not depend on the political environment. They are based on common views on the main issues of the global agenda, strong friendship and mutual sympathy between our nations.

We highlighted the further development of our trade and economic cooperation. We see many opportunities in this sphere. The key role in this belongs to the high-level Intergovernmental Russian-Venezuelan Commission, which held its 17th meeting in Moscow on October 16, 2023. It mapped out forward-looking areas of bilateral cooperation, namely, broader interaction in oil production, the development of gas deposits, agriculture, medicine, pharmaceutics, space exploration, information and communication technologies, and innovations. Another promising sphere is the peaceful use of nuclear energy, which we discussed today as well.

We agreed to accelerate and increase our levels of cooperation in all these spheres. We share the opinion that this will strengthen the stability of our national economies and the technological sovereignty of Russia and Venezuela. We are prepared to share the experience we have accumulated in recent years with our Venezuelan friends.

We are building up humanitarian and cultural exchanges. The Venezuelans are particularly interested in receiving education in Russia. In this context, we doubled the scholarship quota for Venezuela to 200 last year, and we will keep it at 200 for the next academic year too. In September 2023, a centre for open education, offering a number of courses in the Russian language, was established in Caracas. With the permission of our Venezuelan colleagues, we plan to open a similar centre on Margarita Island. We also intend to reopen the Russian Centre for Science and Culture in Caracas.

This morning, I joined Foreign Minister Yvan Gil, Culture Minister Ernesto Villegas and Caracas Mayor Carmen Melendez to unveil a monument to the great Russian poet, Aleander Pushkin, in one of the most popular parks in the centre of the Venezuelan capital. I would like to thank our friends for their interest in our cultural and historical heritage.

We agreed to facilitate the development of our sports ties. We look forward to the participation of the Venezuelan team in the Games of the Future, which will begin in Kazan in a few days, and in the other tournaments we plan to hold, including BRICS games. We also look forward to the planned participation of Venezuelan performers in the Intervision music contest, which is scheduled for November 2024.

We talked in detail about interaction on the international stage. We agree on the importance of working towards justice and broader democracy on the international level based on strict compliance by all countries with the main principles of the UN Charter in their entirety and interconnection. While doing this, we emphasised the principle of respect for the sovereign equality of states.

We are united in rejecting the methods of diktat, blackmail, and unlawful unilateral restrictions employed by Washington and its satellites, with or without cause. We regard our cooperation at various multilateral venues as an important joint contribution to shaping a more just multipolar international order. In this connection, I can mention the Group of Friends in Defence of the UN Charter created at Venezuela’s initiative three years ago. It is gaining momentum, with increasing interest from more countries. Today, we have agreed on measures to maximise its effectiveness.

We focused on our cooperation within OPEC+ and the Gas Exporting Countries Forum. All of these are highly promising aspects of our joint work with other member countries of these organisations.

We have discussed the situation in Latin America and the Caribbean.  We welcome Venezuela’s energetic efforts to promote the processes of regional political and economic integration in the interests of enhancing the region’s importance and prestige as one of the poles in the emerging multipolar and polycentric world.  We appreciate Venezuela’s interest in helping Russia to develop and strengthen relations with various organisations in the Latin American region, including CELAC, ALBA, and other sub-regional associations.   

I want once again to express our satisfaction with the outcome of the talks and thank my colleague and friend for hospitality.

We have agreed that our next meeting will take place in Russia. Mr Yvan Gil has a standing invitation to visit our country.

Question: The Foreign Ministry of Russia, while commenting on the Venezuela-Guyana dispute over the status of Essequibo, has repeatedly emphasised the inadmissibility of outside interference in the region’s affairs. In this context, what is your comment on the actions and statements by third countries that contradict this principle? 

Sergey Lavrov: Our comment is exactly the same as before. It is inadmissible to interfere in the internal affairs of Venezuela or any other country. The same goes for problems arising in relations between any two states.

The position taken by President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro and his government is in favour of engaging in dialogue. There has been a meeting between the two foreign ministers and talks between the presidents of the two countries are being prepared. Each party has its own position. There is a well-known point of view (we recalled it today) contained in the findings of the UN International Court of Justice. Therefore, there are grounds for constructive dialogue. We support the parties’ efforts to reach accord based on a mutual agreement.

As I understand, this is the position held by our Venezuelan friends. 

Question: What practical steps are being taken by Russia and Venezuela to oppose actions by the United States and its allies, such as the likely confiscation of the frozen Russian assets or the recent impoundment of a Venezuelan Boeing 747? 

Sergey Lavrov: Venezuela is also suffering from the barbaric and predatory policies pursued by the United States and its satellites.  Aside from the impoundment of an aircraft you have mentioned, Venezuela’s money, its public reserves have been frozen by a number of Western countries, which did the same with the Russian state assets. This is a gross and blatant violation of international law and civilised relations in trade, the economy, investment, or any other area.

This undermines the international financial system, which the United States has continuously presented for years as most suitable for all countries without exception. The US has discredited itself and the principles of globalisation it has promoted as the best innovation in the sphere of global economy.   

Today, we have exchanged views on how we will proceed in the future. We have plans of our own and Venezuela also intends to take certain steps. It is beneficial to share our perspectives.

We will work to redress justice. This is our main course of action.

Question (retranslated from Spanish): Let’s continue with the topic of sanctions imposed on Russia last year. My question is about the SWIFT system and its introduction. What is its current characteristic and status in terms of the financial messaging system? The Russian minister has mentioned Venezuela’s interest in cooperating with BRICS. To what extent is this cooperation acceptable and when could it materialise?

Regarding politics, Russia is one of the countries supporting dialogue between the Venezuelan government and the opposition. Is Russia ready to organise a new meeting, given the upcoming elections scheduled for the latter half of this year? To what extent is this possible in the current context?

Sergey Lavrov (adding after Yvan Gil): As for the question about whether we are ready to continue supporting dialogue between the Venezuelan government and the opposition, we are ready to assist to the extent and in the manner that is of interest to the legitimate government of the Bolivarian Republic. This is our firm position. It has never changed and is still in force.