RPT: PREVIEW - Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Ryabkov Starts Visit To Venezuela On Saturday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th July, 2019) Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov will arrive for a three day visit in Venezuela on Saturday in order to meet with the country's top and senior officials.

The official topic of the visit is Ryabkov's participation in the ministerial conference of the Non-Aligned Movement's (NAM) Coordinating Bureau but the real program of the visit is much broader.

On Thursday, the deputy foreign minister told Sputnik that he planned to hold bilateral meetings at "quite a high level" during the visit.

Ryabkov said he would hold meetings at the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry to discuss international affairs as well as hold discussions with participants of the NAM conference.

The official pointed out that all three the days of the visit would be packed in meetings.

At the same time, Ryabkov refused to disclose any further details about participants of the upcoming meetings, stressing that this would be "improper."

Ryabkov said that the meeting would focus on a number of urgent issues, including the results of the latest round of the intra-Venezuelan talks in Barbados and ongoing Russian-Venezuelan cooperation, including on international platforms.

The deputy foreign minister pointed out that he would also discuss with the Venezuelan leadership issues related to Russian military experts, adding that "there is and can be nothing extraordinary and sensational" in this area.

The Russian diplomat also did not rule out discussing the upcoming visit of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to Russia.

Russia and Venezuela have been actively developing bilateral cooperation for more than a decade, including economic and defense industry ties.

Moscow is fully supporting Maduro as the only legitimate leader of Venezuela amid the deep political crisis in the Latin American country.

The crisis escalated in January, when US-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido proclaimed himself interim president in a bid to oust Maduro. The United States recognized Guaido and started imposing sanctions on Venezuela and freezing billions of Dollars of Venezuela's assets.

Russia has repeatedly said the United States is strangling the country with sanctions in an attempt to drag it into chaos.