Russia's ambassador to Venezuela said the country knows the names of those who "betrayed" Venezuela's authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro earlier this month.
Speaking to Rossiya-24, Serguei Melik-Bagdasarov said "local law enforcement agents didn't do all they could" during the operation that took place on January 3.
He went on to say that actions that ended in the operations began before the raid, noting that "if what happened here long before this happened could be called treason, naturally it was."
"We know the names of those traitors who fled Venezuela and systematically worked for U.S. intelligence," the ambassador added.
It is unclear who Melik-Bagdasarov was referring to, but The Guardian detailed in a recent report that Delcy Rodriguez, who replaced Maduro, pledged along with her brother Jorge to work with the U.S. if he was removed.
The assurance from the Rodriguez siblings came before Maduro was captured. They added that his removal would be a welcome outcome. "She said, 'I'll work with whatever is the aftermath,'" a source detailed.
The outlet added that communications between the then-Vice President and U.S. officials through Qatari intermediaries began in the fall and continued after President Donald Trump urged Maduro to leave Venezuela in a phone call in November, a possibility he rejected.
All sources quoted by the outlet noted that the siblings offered to work with U.S. authorities if Maduro was removed but didn't help to do so, clarifying that they did not collaborate to topple him.
Trump quickly announced that Delcy Rodriguez would be Venezuela's interim president after the operation. He has since said the administrations are "getting along very well" and that she is "giving us everything that we feel is necessary."
Trump told The New York Post earlier in January that his administration expects to maintain direct oversight of the government in Caracas for an extended period, noting that it will last "much longer than a year." Trump also declined to set a specific timeline for the involvement, saying his government plans to extract and sell Venezuelan oil while providing funds back to the country.
U.S. intelligence officials had described Rodriguez as a pragmatic political figure capable of working with Washington, according to assessments cited after a rare visit to Caracas by C.I.A. Director John Ratcliffe.
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