Russia minister visits Venezuela, reviews ties, offers full support

Russia and Venezuela reviewed some of their hundreds of bilateral agreements covering the financial, energy, agricultural and several other sectors during discussions between their top diplomats and other high-level officials Tuesday in the South American country.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Venezuelan counterpart Yvn Gil held a joint press conference in Caracas hours after the former arrived to the allied country in the second stop of a tour of four Latin American nations. Both men vowed continued support for each other's country and condemned the economic sanctions that the United States government has imposed on them.

We fully support the position of our Venezuelan friends, Lavrov said. It is their country ... and we are going to support it in any way so that the Venezuelan economy becomes an independent economy from the pressures of the United States and other western actors.

Lavrov's remarks were translated from Russian to Spanish by a government-provided ...