Sawt Falasteen - Trump says would be 'smart' for Venezuela's Maduro to step down

Venezuela's key ally Moscow, however, expressed its "full support" for Maduro's government, as Washington has dialed up military operations and threats against Caracas.

Asked by reporters at his Florida home if Washington's threats were designed to force Maduro to leave office after 12 years, Trump said: "That's up to him, what he wants to do. I think it would be smart for him to do that."

But he added: "If he wants to do something -- if he plays tough, it'll be the last time he's ever able to play tough."

The earlier pledge from Moscow, which is embroiled in the war in Ukraine, came on the eve of a UN Security Council meeting Tuesday to discuss the mounting crisis.

In a phone call, the foreign ministers of the allied nations blasted the US actions, which have included strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats and more recently the seizure of two oil tankers.

A third ship was being pursued, a US official told AFP on Sunday.

"The ministers expressed their deep concern over the escalation of Washington's actions in the Caribbean Sea, which could have serious consequences for the region and threaten international shipping," the Russian foreign ministry said of the call between Sergei Lavrov and Venezuelan counterpart Yvan Gil.

"The Russian side reaffirmed its full support for and solidarity with the Venezuelan leadership and people in the current context," it added in a statement.

US forces have since September launched strikes on boats that Washington claims, without providing evidence, were trafficking drugs in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean.

More than 100 people have been killed -- some of them fishermen, according to their families and governments.

US President Trump on December 16 also announced a blockade of "sanctioned oil vessels" sailing to and from Venezuela.

Trump claims Caracas under Maduro is using oil money to finance "drug terrorism, human trafficking, murder and kidnapping."

He has also accused Venezuela of taking "all of our oil" -- in an apparent reference to the country's nationalization of the petroleum sector, and said: "we want it back."

Caracas, in turn, fears Washington is seeking regime change, and has accused Washington of "international piracy."

Moscow's statement said Lavrov and Gil agreed in their call to "coordinate their actions on the international stage, particularly at the UN."

Russia and China, another Venezuela ally, backed Caracas's request for a UNSC meeting to discuss what it called "the ongoing US aggression."

- Russia's 'hands full' -

On Telegram, Venezuela's Gil said he and Lavrov had discussed "the aggressions and flagrant violations of international law being perpetrated in the Caribbean: attacks on vessels, extrajudicial executions, and illicit acts of piracy carried out by the United States government."

Gil said Lavrov had affirmed Moscow's "full support in the face of hostilities against our country."

Last week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio brushed aside Moscow's stated support for Caracas.

Washington, he said, was "not concerned about an escalation with Russia with regards to Venezuela" as "they have their hands full in Ukraine."

US-Russia relations have soured in recent weeks as Trump has voiced frustration with Moscow over the lack of a resolution to the Ukraine war.

Gil on Monday also read a letter on state TV, signed by Maduro and addressed to UN member nations, warning the US blockade "will affect the supply of oil and energy" globally.

E.Aziz--SF-PST