OREANDA-NEWS. Maria Zakharova denied Mike Pompeo's message that Nicolas Maduro was going to leave Venezuela, but Russia persuaded him not to do that. According to the representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we are talking about the information war from the United States. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova commented on CNN to the statements made by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that Russia dissuaded Nicolas Maduro from leaving Venezuela when he was ready to take such a step. "Washington struggled to demoralize the Venezuelan army and used fakes as part of the information war," CNN cites her comment.

Pompeo's statement followed late on Tuesday after the political situation escalated in Venezuela. The Secretary of State told CNN in an interview that Maduro had not been seen for a long time, and on Tuesday morning, against the background of mass protests in the country, he was ready to leave Venezuela. For this, according to Pompeo, even the plane was ready, Maduro was going to fly to Havana. However, Russia persuaded him not to leave the country, Pompeo argued.

Words Pompeo previously commented on Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreas. He also called the statements of his American counterpart fake and explained his appearance as a failure of the coup attempt. “Making fake news is a very sad way to admit that the coup you supported the United States failed again,” wrote Arreas on his Twitter page, advising the US authorities to return to diplomacy. Maduro later made a televised address to the nation. He said that a new attempt by the state, initiated by the opposition, had failed.

Earlier, Guaydo called on the military and the people of the country to overthrow the president. He stated that the army took his side, and called what was happening "the final phase of Operation Freedom." To suppress the coup, Caracas used tear gas.