Russia’s Lavrov says the U.S. is smashing the world around with its raid on Venezuela and threats to Iran

MOSCOW, January 14 (Reuters) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that the United States was tearing apart the international system Washington helped create by undertaking what it said was an illegal operation to oust Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and threatening Iran with an attack.

Lavrov said about the US operation to capture Maduro: “We are talking about a gross violation of international law.” He added that Russia remains committed to its agreements with Russia’s ally Venezuela.

“In general, these and other actions in the international arena point to the line of breaking the entire system that has been created for many years with the participation of our American colleagues,” he said.

Lavrov, who has served as foreign minister since 2004, said that with globalization, the entire international order “has gone down the drain” and is now starting to fall apart.

When asked about US threats to Iran, Lavrov said Moscow must continue to work with Tehran to implement bilateral agreements and that no other country can change the nature of ties between Russia and Iran.

Lavrov claimed that the United States was damaging its own image by abandoning the principles it had long defended.

“When our American colleagues behave this way, they look unreliable,” Lavrov said at a press conference in Moscow with his Namibian counterpart.

Asked about a Bloomberg report that White House envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner wanted to travel to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Lavrov said Putin had repeatedly said he was open to serious discussions about peace in Ukraine.

Lavrov said it would be useful for Washington to inform Moscow about the latest peace proposals for Ukraine.

(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin and Dmitry Antonov; Writing by Guy Faulconbridge/‌Anastasia Teterevleva; Editing by Andrew Osborn)