Ryabkov Notes Positive Results Of Venezuelan Talks In Barbados

CARACAS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st July, 2019) Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov has noted positive results of the latest round of talks held between Venezuelan government and the country's opposition in Barbados.

"I am pleased by the fact that the latest round of talks in Barbados ended with great understanding and narrowing of serious difficulties, which still exist. I also welcome the fact that the government and those who were in Barbados from the other side agreed to continue the dialogue in the near future," Ryabkov said on the sidelines of the ministerial conference of the Non-Aligned Movement's (NAM) Coordinating Bureau.

Last week, a delegation of Venezuelan government and representatives of the opposition held a three-day round of Norway-mediated talks in Barbados as part of the efforts to resolve the ongoing political crisis in the country.

Venezuela is experiencing a political crisis that intensified in January after the US-backed opposition leader, Juan Guaido, proclaimed himself interim president. The United States, as well as the European Union, imposed sanctions on Venezuela and froze its assets. The state's incumbent president, Nicolas Maduro, called Guaido a US puppet and accused Washington of orchestrating a change of government in order to claim Venezuelan natural resources.

Since May, Caracas and the Venezuelan opposition have been engaged in talks mediated by the Norwegian government. On July 12, Hector Rodriguez, the governor of the state of Miranda, said that the Venezuelan government and opposition had agreed to engage in a permanent peace dialogue as a result of three-day talks that took place in Barbados in the first week of July.