Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov has condemned a US strike on a boat in international waters just off the coast of Venezuela on October 3 that killed four people.
In a phone call to his Venezuelan counterpart, Yván Gil Pinto, on Sunday, Russian foreign minister stated that Moscow strongly condemns the strike delivered by the US armed forces on a vessel in international waters off Venezuela.
To remind, the United States has carried out an attack on a vessel that, according to US President Donald Trump, was involved in illegal drug trafficking.
Foreign Ministers Sergey Lavrov of Russia and Yván Gil Pinto of Venezuela expressed serious concern about Washington’s escalating actions in the Caribbean Sea, the Russian foreign ministry said after their phone call.
“The ministers expressed serious concern over Washington’s escalating actions in the Caribbean Sea, stating that such actions are fraught with far-reaching consequences for the region. Sergey Lavrov stated that Russia strongly condemns the new strike carried out by the US armed forces on October 3 on a vessel in international waters near Venezuela,” the Russian foreign ministry said.
The ministers noted that there “is no certainty that the United States will not in any way link its declared war against drug cartels with the situation in Haiti”.
The ministers agreed to continue close bilateral cooperation and coordinate actions, primarily at the United Nations, in the interests of ensuring respect for countries’ sovereignty and non-interference into their domestic affairs.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio defended the US most recent strike against a “drug boat” in waters off the coast of Venezuela. “The Department of Defense doesn’t take this lightly. There are many boats running through that region, some of which you – we suspect may have drugs on them, and they don’t take shots at them because they need to know with 100 percent certainty. They know who’s on those boats; they know what those boats are doing,” Rubio said on Fox New Sunday.
“I can’t tell you the tactics or how it comes about in terms of how we gather the intelligence, but suffice it to say the Department of War has tremendous confidence in the way they are gathering information.
“They have the highest confidence in this because of the work that goes into this, because of the tremendous amount of caution they’re taking in deciding who to strike and who not to strike,” Rubio added.
US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said on X that the strike occurred Friday morning on a “narco-trafficking vessel” that U.S. indicated was affiliated with a designated terrorist organization in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility.
Hegseth confirmed the strike was carried out in international waters, just off the coast of Venezuela.
“Four male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel were killed in the strike, and no U.S. forces were harmed in the operation. The strike was conducted in international waters just off the coast of Venezuela while the vessel was transporting substantial amounts of narcotics – headed to America to poison our people,” he added.
The operation, directed by President Trump, targeted a boat allegedly transporting substantial amounts of narcotics bound for America.
Four male aboard the vessel were killed in the strike.
Trump posted a video on his Truth Social platform, saying that “a boat loaded with enough drugs to kill 25 TO 50 THOUSAND PEOPLE was stopped, early this morning off the Coast of Venezuela, from entering American Territory.”
