Moscow: US aid to Venezuela possible pretext for force

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - The U.S. could use the issue of humanitarian aid delivery to Venezuela as a pretext for a military intervention, Russia warned on Thursday.

Similar scenarios were used many times in the Middle East, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a news conference.

As the Venezuelan opposition is failing to gather strength, she said, "this is pushing the White House to implement a force scenario in Venezuela."

Citing the International Red Cross’s refusal to participate in U.S. humanitarian aid delivery as evidence of this, she said it had declined to take part "in something that is not humanitarian aid."

Zakharova called the freezing of the Venezuelan oil giant PDSVA’s accounts and military officers joining the opposition "unacceptable" and "violating the values of democracy and a market-based economy.”

- Lavrov to meet Greek Cypriot counterpart

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will meet Nikos Christodoulides, his Greek Cypriot counterpart, on Feb. 21, Zakharova announced on Thursday.

The two will exchange opinions on "a wide range of international and regional issues of mutual interest, including a settlement on Cyprus and the situation in the Eastern Mediterranean," she said.

- Russia, Australia, Netherlands to meet on MH17 crash

Zakharova confirmed that officials from Russia, Australia, and the Netherlands will meet in Vienna to discuss the 2014 crash of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 in Donbass, Ukraine, near the Russian border.

She accused the Netherlands of a lack of transparency in the investigation and refusing to share its data.

Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, killing all 283 passengers and 15 crew members on board, including 28 Australians.

Last year a joint investigation team (JIT) investigating the crash said the missile that downed the plane resembled a Russian-made Buk missile that crossed into Ukraine from Kursk, Russia four weeks prior to the incident.