USA asks Russia to leave Maduro | "Arrived…

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo badured yesterday that it was time for Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to step down. Pompeo's words to his Russian colleague, Sergei Lavrov, were so important at a conference that they gave at the end of their private meeting. "The United States and more than 50 countries believe that the time has come for Maduro to leave power," said the American at the press conference held in the seaside resort of Sochi on the Black Sea .

Mr. Pompeo went to Russia yesterday for his first visit regarding the current situation in Venezuela, as well as the escalation of the Iranian conflict and arms control after the announcement by the United States of revision of strategic disarmament treaties dating from the Cold War. Pompeo and Lavrov also spoke of the extension of the New Beginning, the treaty that limits offensive and strategic weaponry that expires in 2021. But Venezuela and Iran have been the most discussed topics of the conversation.

Pompeo, whose country supports Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guidó, said Maduro was to resign to "end the suffering of the Venezuelan people." He also said that Washington objected to any country going to Venezuela. But without thinking about his own intervention. "We hope that Russian support for Maduro will be over," he said while denouncing the economic and energy interests of Russia in this Caribbean country. He then badured that the position of the United States was that the Venezuelans themselves should choose their leaders. For what Lavrorv reprimanded: "You can not establish a democracy by force." The Russian minister has accused the United States, and Guido in particular, of frequently threatening a possible military intervention that, according to Lavrov, has nothing to do with democracy.

The Iranian nuclear crisis was another problem where the two powers failed to reach a consensus. The escalation of the conflict began last week after Tehran announced it would not respect some of the commitments of the 2015 nuclear deal. It said it would not sell enriched uranium or surplus of heavy water these elements of unlimited form. The Iranian move came after Washington withdrew from the agreement last year. But despite the recent decision of Iran, the United States continues unstintingly. Pompeo also badured Lavrov that Washington will continue to press the Islamic Republic to "return to the rank of responsible countries." However, he denied that Washington wants "a war with Iran", although it has pledged to act if its interests are threatened, including by Iranian support for Hezbollah Shiite guerrillas. The clarification did not hurt, as the information published in the United States referred to an alleged Pentagon proposal to send 120,000 troops to the Middle East to deal with a possible Iranian threat, which Trump denied when Pompeo was giving the press conference. with Lavrov.

The head of Russian diplomacy said he was confident that the "reason is going away" and that these so-called US military plans are only a rumor, as badured his counterpart.

One of the few commonalities between the two was the decision to create working groups to negotiate an extension of the new departure or new start III, a disarmament treaty that will expire in 2021 and that limits strategic weaponry. Pompeo, however, added that the United States wanted China to participate in the negotiations, which Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi fired Monday in Sochi before meeting with Putin.

Russia has already indicated that it wants to extend the five-year START treaty, which is important after both countries have abandoned the medium and short-range missile reduction treaty. Another well-known bone of contention in bilateral relations, Ukraine, led Pompeo to ask Russia to "lend a hand" to the elected president, Vladimir Zelensky. The goal, he added, should be to resolve the crisis between the two countries, which would include the release of Ukrainian sailors trapped by Russian coastguards last November in the Black Sea.

As he had promised, Pompeo also highlighted the issue of "interference in an election campaign in the United States", which he described as "inadmissible". "If this also happens in 2020, our mutual relations will surely deteriorate.We call you not to do it, we just do not admit it," warned Pompeo.