US President Donald Trump and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Picture: Saul Loeb and Federico Parra/ AFP Russia on Saturday demanded “immediate” clarification about the circumstances of the reported US abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro during an attack ordered by President Donald Trump. “We are extremely alarmed by reports that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife were forcibly removed from the country as a result of today’s US aggression.
We call for an immediate clarification of the situation,” the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement. Venezuela has meanwhile demanded an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the US attacks on the country, amid the uncertainty over the whereabouts of Maduro. “Faced with the criminal aggression committed by the US government against our homeland, we have requested an urgent meeting of the United Nations Security Council, which is responsible for upholding international law,” Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil wrote on the Telegram messaging platform.
Venezuela accused the United States of hitting residential areas in a wave of strikes early Saturday, and announced a major deployment of military resources. Lopez added that the South American country would launch a “massive deployment of all land, air, naval, riverine and missile capabilities… for comprehensive defence.” He said authorities were gathering “information on the injured and dead” in Washington’s “vile and cowardly attack”. According to Lopez, residential areas were hit in the area of Fuerte Tiuna, Venezuela’s largest military complex, situated in the south of Caracas, as well as in the states of Miranda, Aragua, and La Guaira around the capital. Explosions thundered across Caracas around 2:00 am (0600 GMT, 08:00 in SA), rattling windows in many neighbourhoods, AFP journalists reported.
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