Russia warns of fresh protests in Venezuela

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - The Venezuelan opposition is preparing for new mass protests on May 1 potentially precipitating in a coup attempt, Russia said on Thursday.

"The radical opposition is preparing new large-scale actions to provoke clashes between protesters from different camps," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, speaking at a news conference in Moscow.

"We call on all sensible Venezuelan politicians to adhere exclusively to peaceful methods of political struggle, especially on the day of international solidarity of workers, and not to react to provocations," she added.

Turning to Central Asia, Zakharova said Moscow regretted that the second inter-Afghan meeting in Doha had been cancelled.

"We regret this decision of the organizers, as this inter-Afghan format has already showed itself as the most promising channel of communication between the various political forces of Afghanistan, including the current government and the armed opposition, a.k.a. the Taliban movement," she said.

She added that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov would discuss the Afghan settlement during his two-day visit to Uzbekistan beginning on May 2.

"Special attention will be paid to the situation in neighboring Afghanistan, the coordination of efforts to peacefully overcome the crisis in that country, the state and prospects of the settlement," she said.

Russian, Chinese and U.S. presidential envoys who held a closed meeting today in Moscow also discussed the situation in the country.

Afghanistan has been rocked by conflict for the last 17 years when U.S. troops entered the South Asian nation to fight the Taliban.

Over 200 Afghan politicians and civil society representatives were set to meet the Taliban in the Qatari capital, Doha over the weekend for what was set to be a momentous development endorsed by Kabul and Washington.