'Stop interfering' in others' affairs, Russia tells US

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - Russia's UN envoy on Wednesday turned a phrase on U.S. President Donald Trump's signature campaign slogan, cautioning if America is to be made "great again" it must first reverse the thrust of its foreign policy.

"If you want to 'make America great again', wherein all of us have a genuine interest, then stop interfering in the internal affairs of others," Vassily Nebenzia told the Security Council shortly after U.S. Vice President Mike Pence demanded the UN recognize Venezuela's opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country's interim president.

"You do not like others to interfere in your affairs, do you? No one does," Nebenzia said after Pence concluded his remarks.

The U.S. was the first nation to recognize Guaido just hours after he declared himself the Latin American nation's interim president in January. The Organization of American States regional bloc and 54 countries followed suit, including most in the region.

"It’s time for the United Nations to speak," Pence told the Security Council. "Now that nations across this hemisphere have spoken, the time has come for the United Nations to recognize Interim President Juan Guaido as the legitimate president of Venezuela and seat his representative in this body."

Pence demanded the UN revoke the credentials of Venezuela's UN envoy, Samuel Moncada, and instead seat Guaido's representative "without delay."

In response, Nebenzia called on the U.S. "to recognize after all the right of Venezuelans and of other nations to be masters of their fate.

"You will be respected for that," he said.

Russia has been a principal supporter of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who has resisted calls to step down amid mass protests and the ongoing political deadlock with Guaido.

The U.S. was the first nation to recognize Guaido's claim to power, and has been followed by most states in Latin America.

Venezuela has been in the throes of humanitarian and economic crises amid the political deadlock between Guaido and Maduro as Washington has ramped up diplomatic and economic pressure on the Venezuelan president, including sanctioning of his state-run oil company, in a bid to get him to relinquish power.

The political stalemate comes as Venezuela grapples with a worsening economic crisis that has led to acute shortages of goods and which has repeatedly resulted in widespread power outages.