Credit: Wikipedia pdvsa

By Gary Raynaldo    DIPLOMATIC TIMES

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro ordered the relocation of the European headquarters of Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) from Lisbon to Moscow.  Venezuela’s Vice President Delcy Rodríguez made the announcement last Friday at a press conference held with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in the Kremlin’s capital city Moscow.  The move to Moscow was made “to guarantee the security of the country’s assets”,  telesureenglish.net  reported.  She added  the relocation is part of a “broadening” of the existing relationship between PDVSA and Russia’s two biggest energy companies, Rosneft and Gazprom.  Rosneft and Gazprom have provided tens of billions of dollars of loans and credit lines to the Chavista government in Venezuela since 2006. They own 49.9 percent of PDVSA, but hold most of the bonds collateralized with the remaining 50.1 percent stake in the company. 

“Europe does not offer guarantees of respect for our assets. President Nicolas Maduro has instructed that the PDVSA office in Europe, which is located in Lisbon, be transferred to Moscow,” Rodriguez said, adding that such decision is also aimed at strengthening ties with Russia-telesureenglish.net. 

Rodriguez said U.S. and its allies violate their own laws when they freeze Venezuelan assets in Western banks

Credit: delcyrodríguez twitter /  Venezuela’s Vice President Delcy Rodríguez

“The capitalist world violates its own laws,” the Vice President said and emphasized that the Venezuelan government will pursue legal actions to defend its offshore financial assets, which have been illegally delivered to the U.S.-backed political opposition, telesureenglish reported.   The Trump administration has imposed several rounds of economic sanctions on senior officials of PDVSA. 

Photo credit:   KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP/Getty Images)   Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez enter a hall during a meeting in Moscow on March 1, 2019.

Sanctioned Bank To Service Venezuela PDVSA Accounts In Russia:  Oilprice.com 

The Russian accounts of Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA and all other Venezuelan companies will be moved to a Russian bank that is sanctioned by the United States, Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency reported, citing two sources familiar with the plans-Oilprice.com.  The Russian authorities have decided to move the Russian accounts of Venezuelan firms to the Russian Financial Corporation Bank (RFC Bank) after they held consultations with Venezuela and the businesses, according to RIA Novosti’s sources, as reported by Oilprice.com. Russia is the staunchest supporter of Nicolas Maduro’s regime in the political power struggle in the Latin American country sitting on top of the world’s largest oil reserves, while the U.S. and many European nations have recognized Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó as the legitimate interim president. Russia has stood by Maduro for years and has poured billions of U.S. dollars in Venezuela in the form of loans and oil investments in joint ventures, Oilprice.com.