Invasion in Venezuela

1 Venezuela

The Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced during a speech in Caracas that new mercenary groups are being trained in Colombia in order to invade Venezuela. The speech of the Venezuelan President was broadcast on the state TV. The Minister of Defense of Venezuela, Vladimir Padrino Lopez, reported that the Venezuelan army captured 39 deserters that tried to enter the country via the border with Colombia. According to the Venezuelan authorities — they were going to take part in the prepared operation for an armed invasion of Venezuela.

2 Venezuela

On Monday, 18th of May, the UN Security Council will discuss the invasion in Venezuela during an emergency meeting, called by a request from Russia — TASS reports while citing their diplomatic source at the UN. «Russia has requested the meeting. It is planned for Monday» — the diplomatic source told to the TASS. Earlier the Venezuelan Permanent Representative to the UN, Samuel Moncada, sent a letter to the chairman of the UN Security Council in which he demanded the UN Security Council to denounce the attempted coup in Venezuela

3 Syria

The ‘SANA’ reported that the Syrian ‘Coronavirus Operational HQ’, headed by the Syrian Government, has decided to resume the transport communication between the Syrian provinces starting from 19th of May. The Syrian authorities made such decision due to the upcoming holiday of ‘Uraza Bairam’, after the end of the Muslim fasting month ‘Ramadan’, on 24th of May. The Syrian authorities urged to refrain from festivities during the holiday. It was underlined that the curfew from 19:30 till 6 AM is still in effect. Parks and tourist facilities will be closed until the end of May.

4 China

Li Mingzhu, the head of the Chinese Department of the International Relations of the State Committee on Health and Hygiene, stated during a press conference that the World Health Organization didn’t ask the Chinese authorities to organize a visit to the ‘Wuhan Institute of Virology’ for the specialists of the international organization. “The WHO never put forward any requests for a visit to any laboratories. The information about the refusal of the WHO to visit Wuhan is false” — the Chinese representative concluded.

5 China

The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian commented on a statement made by the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, about the far-fetched issue of China joining the «New START» treaty. Zhao Lijian stated that China doen’t intend to enter any multilateral negotiations on the strategic offensive weapons. He explained that Russia and the USA «are the owners of the largest nuclear arsenals», and they should bear the special responsibility for their reduction, thus creating conditions for other countries to join the multilateral arms control deals.

6 Ukraine

After the video-conference of the contact group, gathered to resolve the situation in the east of Ukraine, Kiev ruled out any possibility of the special status of Donbass in the Ukrainian constitution. This decision was confirmed by the office of the Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky. «Ukraine once again ruled out the possibility of ensuring of the special status of the certain parts of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions in the Constitution of Ukraine» — the official website of the office announced. Kiev confirmed that the elections in Donbass «can take place only after Ukraine gains the control over the border». According to the Minsk agreements — Ukraine must undergo a constitutional reform with a consolidation of the special status of Donbass in the basic laws, on the permanent basis. Constantine Reztsov, specially for ANNA NEWS.