Russia backs Venezuela after US military strike in Caribbean

BOGOTA, Colombia

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil said Sunday that he had a phone call with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, who offered Russia's "full expression of support and solidarity" after a US military strike on a vessel in the Caribbean.

"Sergey Lavrov said that Russia strongly condemns the new strike by the US armed forces on Oct. 3 on a ship in international waters near Venezuela," the ministry said.

Four people were killed in the strike on the vessel, which Washington said was transporting "substantial amounts of narcotics -- headed to America to poison our people."

​​Gil posted on Telegram that Moscow has committed to preserving Latin America and the Caribbean as a "Zone of Peace."

US President Donald Trump addressed the incident in a speech at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia at a celebration marking the 250th anniversary of Navy, praising its actions against what he called "cartel terrorists."

"They’re not coming in by sea anymore, so now we’ll have to start looking about the land because they’ll be forced to go by land," he said in a statement some interpreted as a potential threat to Venezuela itself.

The Oct. 3 attack was at least the fourth US strike in recent weeks, with at least 21 deaths.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government maintains that the US is seeking to remove him from power.

Gil has highlighted the “repeated threats from political sectors in the US that seek to justify a military deployment in our region, putting the stability of the continent at risk."