Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is anticipated to make one of his first official visits after his reelection to Russia, according to Sergey Melik-Bagdasarov, the Russian Ambassador to Caracas.

“Local high-ranking officials have informed me that one of the initial destinations Nicolas Maduro plans to visit following his reelection is Russia. We will have to wait and see,” Melik-Bagdasarov stated in an interview with Rossiya-24.

The Russian diplomat emphasized that Maduro is a welcome guest in Russia, a sentiment echoed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in his congratulatory message. “We know that Maduro had intended to visit our country multiple times before. However, each time, his visit had to be postponed due to various political reasons, primarily involving pressure and interference from the United States in Venezuelan internal affairs. As for immediate plans, we should wait until the situation stabilizes,” he added.

US-backed protests erupted in Caracas and other Venezuelan cities on Monday in response to the results of Sunday’s presidential election, where incumbent President Nicolas Maduro was re-elected for another term.

According to the National Electoral Council’s bulletin, after counting 80% of the ballots, Maduro received 5,150,092 votes, or 51.2%, while his rival, Edmundo Gonzalez of the far-right parties, garnered 4,445,978 votes, or 44.2%. Opposition leader Corina Machado has refused to accept the election results and has declared Gonzalez the winner.

Source: TASS