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Weapons for Opposition May Be Purchased in Eastern Europe – Venezuela's FM

UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) – Venezuelan opposition may be able to obtain weapons by purchasing them in Eastern Europe, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said during a Security Council meeting.
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"We would like to state the information that our allied countries, such as Cuba and Russia, shared with us, about the movement and mobilization of military in the Caribbean Sea, or about the procurement of weapons in Eastern Europe in order to transfer it to radical opposition in Venezuela and create conditions for the intervention in Venezuela," Arreaza said on Tuesday.

Arreaza also told Security Council members that the current crisis in Venezuela is being organized under US guidance.

"We accuse the government of the US in organizing, financing, and management of this flagrant aggression against Venezuela," he said. "This aggression started many years ago; it started since the day when the Bolivarian Revolution took power on the 2nd of February 1999 and has been lasting every hour and every day during these past 20 years."

The UN Security Council held a meeting on the situation in Venezuela on Tuesday after US officials had called for it Monday in the wake of the failure to deliver "humanitarian aid" to Venezuela on 23 February.

US Aim in Venezuela is Regime Change, Including Military Option - Russian Envoy
Venezuela is currently going through a political crisis. The United States has imposed numerous rounds of sanctions on Venezuela amid the political turmoil in the country. In January, Washington blocked around $7 billion in assets belonging to Venezuela's state oil firm PDVSA. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro slammed the restrictions, comparing them to illegal seizing.

READ MORE: Maduro Accuses Colombia, Opposition of Creating Gangs to Attack Country's Border

Tensions in Venezuela escalated on 23 January, when opposition leader Juan Guaido declared himself interim president. Incumbent President Nicolas Maduro qualified Guaido's move as an attempt to stage a coup orchestrated by Washington.

Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said on Tuesday the transportation of US Special Forces to Puerto Rico and deployment of the US military in Colombia are indications that the Pentagon is preparing to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.  

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