Russia and Venezuela will sign a debt restructuring deal next week, with a term of around 10 years and with payments rising gradually, Reuters reports. Venezuela will have to pay back Russia a significant amount of money before the end of 2017 for the agreement to come into force, sources told Reuters.
This is the third time Russia has come to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s aid since last year, The New York Times reported. On Thursday, the U.S. Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions on 10 additional Venezuelan officials, including some government ministers who allegedly helped Maduro’s efforts to undermine an electoral process in Venezuela last October, Newsweek notes.
“As the Venezuelan government continues to disregard the will of its people, our message remains clear: the United States will not stand aside while the Maduro regime continues to destroy democratic order and prosperity in Venezuela,” Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin said in the statement.
According to Mnuchin, the department is committed to pushing efforts to sanction Venezuelan government officials “who are complicit in Maduro’s attempts to undermine democracy.”
As Venezuela’s default still looms, Russia has become,the lifeline for the South American nation’s ailing economy, Newsweek adds. When President Donald Trump announced last August that he was mulling the possibility of a military intervention in Venezuela, Maduro said he would discuss increased military cooperation with the Russian government during his visit to Moscow early last month.
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