WASHINGTON, January 21. /TASS/: US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo did not rule out that Washington may impose new sanctions on those who support the government of Nicolas Maduro, according to remarks after Pompeo's meeting with Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido in Bogota published on the official website of the US Department of State.
"We don't talk about particular sanctions, but everyone can fully expect that the United States is not done," Pompeo said responding to a question on whether the US may impose new sanctions on Russia, in particular on the Rosneft oil company, over supporting Maduro's government. "I would fully expect that there will be further actions that the United States will take to continue to support President Guaido and the Venezuelan people," he added.
The political crisis in Venezuela exacerbated on January 23, when Juan Guaido, Venezuelan opposition leader and parliament speaker, whose appointment to that position had been cancelled by the country’s Supreme Court, declared himself interim president at a rally in the country’s capital of Caracas. Several countries, including the United States, most of the EU states, Lima Group members (excluding Mexico), Australia, Albania, Georgia and Israel, as well as the Organization of American States, recognized him as the legitimate leader. Incumbent President of the country Nicolas Maduro, in turn, blasted the move as a coup staged by Washington and said he was severing diplomatic ties with the US. In contrast, Russia, Belarus, Bolivia, Iran, Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Syria and Turkey voiced support for Maduro.
In September 2019, US Special Representative for Venezuela Elliott Abrams said that Washington may impose sanctions on Russia's Rosneft oil company in the future for cooperation with Venezuela, but is not ready to do it now.
