United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pressed yesterday for Russia to get out of Venezuela, while his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, called on Washington to “abandon its irresponsible plans” in the crisis-wracked country.
The push and shove set the stage for a Pompeo meeting with Lavrov in Finland this week, and belied the conciliatory tone taken by US President Donald Trump on Friday after what he said was “a very good conversation” with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The top level contacts follow the failure of a US-backed uprising this week aimed at ousting Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, which Pompeo has blamed on Russia. The secretary has said Maduro had been ready to flee to Havana but the Russians, who had flown military advisers to Caracas to shore up his socialist government, talked him out of it.
“The Russians must get out,” Pompeo said in an interview Sunday with ABC’s “This Week.”
“I’m going to meet with Foreign Minister Lavrov in recent days. It’s very clear, we want the Russians out, we want the Iranians out, we want the Cubans out. It’s very clear,” he said.
Trump undercut Pompeo’s position on Friday, telling reporters that Putin had assured him “he is not looking to get involved in Venezuela other than he’d like to see something positive happen for Venezuela.”
“And I feel the same way,” Trump added. Asked about those comments, Pompeo said, “I didn’t see the full context of those quotes.” In Moscow, Lavrov met with Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza and pushed back against Washington.
“We call on the Americans, and all those supporting them, to abandon their irresponsible plans and to act exclusively within the boundaries of international law,” Lavrov said. Washington has given full-throated backing to opposition leader Juan Guaido, who tried but ultimately failed to ignite a military uprising against Maduro on April 30.