OREANDA-NEWS. A bill has been published on the US Congress website about imposition of sanctions against Russians and other foreigners who support Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Debbie Wasserman-Schulz, member of the House of Representatives, is the author of the draft.

The bill, in particular, provides banning the entry to the USA “for the foreigners who <...> are acting in the interests of the government of Russia in support of the Venezuelan security forces.”

The author stressed that the increased presence of Russia in the Western Hemisphere is the matter of concern for the US and their allies in the region. It is stated that Russian Federation is the main ally of Venezuela and is interested in the government of Nicolas Maduro. Also, congressmen recalled transferring of two strategic missile carriers Tu-160 to Venezuela, which participated in the exercises in December last year. It is said that Moscow provides Maduro with financial support by giving loans to the Venezuelan gas and oil company PDVSA.

The USA imposed sanctions against PDVSA, blocking its interests and assets of 7 billion dollars in US jurisdiction. One of Russian banks, Eurofinance Mosnarbank, was also affected by the restrictions for collaborating with PDVSA. Last week, Washington announced new restrictions against Caracas, but did not specify what they would be.

Earlier, Elliott Abrams, US special envoy for Venezuela, suggested introducing sanctions against other countries which cooperate with Venezuelan authorities, the National News Service reminds. According to him, these countries will be punished on the basis of their “behavior” and “political regime”.

In January, many protests happened across Venezuela against its current president Nicolas Maduro. On January 23, speaker of the local parliament Juan Guaido declared himself interim head of state.

This step was approved by the USA and some other countries. Russia and several other countries, in particular Mexico, China, Turkey and Indonesia, supported the current leader of Venezuela. Moscow called the “presidential status” of Guaido non-existent.