(Reuters) -Russia remains in constant contact with Venezuela over tensions in the Caribbean, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying on Tuesday.
“We have constant working contacts with Venezuela,” TASS news agency quoted Peskov as telling reporters at a briefing n response to questions about whether Moscow was extending help to Caracas.
Tass said Peskov declined to give any further details about the nature of the contacts.
Peskov, quoted by TASS, said last weekend that Russia wanted the situation between Venezuela and the United States to remain calm and to ensure no new conflicts broke out in the region.
The Russian foreign ministry at the weekend denounced “excessive military force” by the United States in the Caribbean Sea and reaffirmed its support for Venezuela’s leaders.
A U.S. campaign in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific against what Washington says is the illegal drug trade has targeted at least 14 boats and killed 61 people. The United States has built up a large military presence in the Caribbean in recent months.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro signed a strategic partnership agreement in Moscow in May.
(Reporting by Reuters, Editing by William Maclean)
