Russian statement at a UN Security Council meeting on Venezuela

Here is an excerpt of the remarks by Vassily Nebenzia, Russia's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, at the UN Security Council emergency meeting on Venezuela in New York on Monday:

The assault against the leader of Venezuela, which was compounded by the deaths of dozens of Venezuelan and Cuban citizens, was seen by many as a harbinger of a return to an era of lawlessness and US domination by force, chaos and injustice, which continues to inflict suffering on dozens of countries in various regions of the world.

There is no justification for the crime cynically perpetrated by the United States in Caracas, nor can there ever be any.

We firmly condemn the act of armed aggression by the United States against Venezuela in breach of all norms of international law. Given the confirmed reports that the abducted President of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, and his spouse are being held in the United States (and as of today, as we know, in New York), we call upon the US leadership to immediately release the legitimately elected president of an independent State and his spouse.