US Warned Russia of Sanctions If Supporting Maduro Regime

New sanctions may concern Rosneft if doing business with the Venezuelan state oil concern. On Thursday the United States condemned the "brutal and unjustified" detention of executives at the Citgo refinery in Caracas. This stated Elliott Abrams, the State Department’s special representative for Venezuela, who also warned Russia about the consequences of supporting the Nicolas Maduro regime. Venezuelan police detained six company executives who, according to their lawyers and relatives, are currently under house arrest. Venezuelan state oil concern PDVSA owns the Citgo, and its headquartered is located in Texas. "The regime security services placed the businessmen under house, we believe that they are now being held in the El Helicoide prison " in Caracas, Elliott Abrams said at a briefing in Washington. Abrams called these detentions “cruel and unjustified,” and expressed suspicions of a strange coincidence, since at the same time, the Venezuelan opposition leader and the interim president of Venezuela Juan Guaido was in Washington meeting with Donald Trump in the White House. Abrams said the US authorities are making efforts to free the company’s executives without going into details. The diplomat warned Moscow about the consequences if continuing to support the Maduro regime, hinting at the possibility of imposing sanctions on Russia. “As some administration officials noted, Russians may soon find out that their continued support for Maduro will no longer be left without consequences,” said Abrams, adding that everyone who makes a profit from Maduro’s support should also heed this warning. The Russian company Rosneft, along with the Indian concern Reliance, the Spanish company Repsol and the California corporation Chevron, is one of the main business partners of PDVSA, against which the United States introduced strict sanctions last year. By imposing a ban on Venezuelan oil imports for US companies, the United States is in no hurry to implement the threat of imposing secondary sanctions against foreign corporations doing business with PDVSA. Venezuelan oil exports have grown in recent months, allowing thus the Maduro regime take a break. Last year Rosneft became the Venezuelan oil largest reseller, and so far showed no desire to stop doing business with PDVSA. The United States has not yet imposed sanctions on Maduro’s support for either Russia or Rosneft. On Thursday Abrams refused to comment on Washington’s talks with Rosneft, but promised to impose new sanctions without going into details. “We see that the sanctions introduced by us had and have significant consequences and the sanctions will be tightened,” the diplomat said.