OREANDA-NEWSTo transfer to Caracas the ingots stored in the Bank of England were called upon by the president of Venezuela. According to the head of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, this has not happened.

Western countries are trying to strangle the economy of Venezuela, said Igor Kostyukov, head of the Main Department of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, at an international security conference in Moscow. His words leads the Russian media. As examples, he cited US sanctions against Venezuelan oil (because of them, the country, according to Kostyukov, loses more than $ 1 billion monthly) and the UK’s refusal to return its gold to Karakas. “UK banks refuse to return 80 tons of Venezuela’s gold reserves,” Kostyukov stressed.

President Nicolas Maduro called on Britain to return 80 tons of gold reserves in mid-February. He stressed that gold is the property of the Venezuelan central bank. Maduro also said that the United States at that time froze Venezuelan accounts, on which there were $ 10 billion. Instead of a convoy with humanitarian aid, Washington should send a convoy with “dollars that were stolen from us,” Maduro said then. “Let this convoy come with money, with our money. With them, we could solve the problems of our country, ”he said.

the first that the Bank of England refuses to return gold bars to Caracas, reported at the end of January to Bloomberg, citing sources familiar with the situation. The number of bars or their weight was not disclosed in the message, however, the agency noted that Caracas asked to transfer $ 1.2 billion worth of gold to it. Later, Russia's permanent representative to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, gave the same assessment. He also said that funds of $ 11 billion were blocked on the accounts of Venezuelan structures in the United States, and after the introduction of sanctions assets of $ 7 billion were frozen.