OREANDA-NEWS Washington's formation of alternative government structures in Venezuela is a blatant violation of the country's sovereignty. This is stated in a statement issued on Thursday by the Russian foreign Ministry.

"Washington's shameless line on the unconstitutional formation of alternative Venezuelan government structures, attempts, ignoring reality, to appoint legitimate Venezuelan authorities and deny it to others, the tightening of the sanctions stranglehold, leading to a deterioration of the socio-economic situation and painfully beating the pockets of ordinary Venezuelans, is an undisguised attack on the sovereignty of Venezuela," the Russian foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs recalled that the presidential elections in Venezuela on may 20, 2018, won by Nicolas Maduro, "were held under unprecedented pressure from the outside, aimed at taking advantage of the difficult political and economic situation in the country, to prevent the participation in the vote of a wide range of political forces, including the opposition, and thus to question the legitimacy of the expression of will." "However, the last vote revealed the failure of such calculations," - said on Smolensk square.

As a result, the Russian foreign Ministry continued, some countries support the solution of Venezuela's problems through the dialogue of the leading political forces, while others encourage intransigence and even "throw ideas about the possibility of armed intervention from the outside, which in turn meets a sharp rejection in the region." The Ministry stressed that the political dialogue should be held in compliance with the provisions of the Constitution and legislation. The second way, as stressed in the Foreign Ministry, is absolutely hopeless.

"It is impossible to provoke a further split in Venezuelan society," the Ministry said. "We need to promote the search for internal harmony and unite the efforts of the government and the opposition in order to reduce tension, improve the situation in the country, and manage the state on a unifying basis."

"We are glad that this point of view is shared by many of our Latin American friends," the Russian foreign Ministry continued. - We see that in a number of European capitals there is a growing understanding of the importance of finding new formulas of mediation in order to facilitate the return of the Venezuelan authorities and the opposition to the negotiating table. This, in our opinion, is a positive signal."