MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Maduro moves PDVSA office to Moscow to avoid sanctions

Maduro regime desperately seeks to protect assets abroad that are still under its control

Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez announced at a press conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that the central office of state oil company PDVSA in Europe, located in Lisbon, will move to Moscow to guarantee the security of the country's assets abroad, which were delivered to the Venezuelan Parliament in other countries.

According to Rodríguez, the Venezuelan authorities “have no doubt” that the timing of the announcement of this transfer is “opportune” given the political and institutional crisis in the South American country.

The foreign minister, who considers that her country is “the victim of an aggression by the United States,” declared that the Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, considered illegitimate by the European Union (EU) and fifty countries, gave instructions to close the PDVSA office in Portugal.

“Europe does not give guarantees regarding our assets,” Rodriguez said during the press conference in Moscow.

”President Nicolás Maduro has instructed that the Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA) office in Europe, which is located in Lisbon, be transferred to Moscow,“ Rodriguez said, adding that the measure should ”strengthen“ the cooperation between Russia and Venezuela.

The measure establishes the extension of the energy cooperation that Caracas had with Russian oil companies such as Rosneft and Gazprom.

Foreign Minister Lavrov reiterated Russia's support for Maduro's efforts aimed at stabilizing the situation, as well as confirming his solidarity with Maduro's government, considered as legitimate by Vladimir Putin’s.

This transfer is significant for the Maduro administration, which is desperately seeking economic resources after the fall of PDVSA's oil production and the lack of buyers after United States imposed new sanctions.

The situation has led the regime to seek capital through the polemic sale of resources such as gold, material from which at least 8 tons of the vaults of the Venezuelan central bank were removed clandestinely, parliamentary Angel Alvarado told Reuters.

For his part, the President of the National Assembly of Venezuela and declared interim president on January 23, Juan Guaidó, announced in that month that he would begin ”the taking of progressive and orderly control of assets” of Venezuela abroad.

The government of the United States certified Guaidó’s authority to control Venezuelan assets held by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York or any other bank insured by the United States.