Moscow slams US sanctions on Venezuelan oil

MOSCOW: Moscow on Tuesday condemned as "illegal" sanctions announced by Washington against Venezuela´s state oil company and aimed at crippling embattled President Nicolas Maduro´s power base.

"The legitimate authorities of Venezuela have already labelled these sanctions illegal. We can wholly support this point of view," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists. The measures against the state-owned PDVSA company were introduced to "change behaviour" at the ruling government, according to the US Treasury.

Washington last week recognised opposition leader Juan Guaido as a legitimate interim president and called on Maduro to step down. Peskov called the sanctions an "overt intervention in Venezuela´s domestic affairs" and a case of "illegal competition". He added that Russia will strive to protect its interests "within the framework of international law". Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the new sanctions "violate all possible international norms" and show a course toward regime change in embattled Venezuela.