US 'theft' of Maduro shatters international relations: Medvedev

MOSCOW, Feb 2: Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, said the US "theft" of toppled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro shattered international relations and could be considered by Caracas as an act of war.

"What happened to President Nicolas Maduro is obviously a violation of any norms of international law," Medvedev told Reuters, TASS and the WarGonzo Russian war blogger in an interview at his residence outside Moscow.

"It breaks the whole system of international relations," Medvedev said, adding that if US President Donald Trumpwas "stolen" by a foreign power then the US would certainly consider it an act of war.

Meanwhile, Dmitry Medvedev, a senior Kremlin security official, said in remarks released for publication on Monday that the world was getting very dangerous, but that Russia did not want a global conflict.

Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine triggered the biggest confrontation between the West and Moscow since the depths of the Cold War, though US President Donald Trump's envoys are trying to negotiate an end to the war with Russia and Ukraine.

Medvedev, who serves as deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, a kind of modern-day politburo of Russia's most powerful officials, praised Trump and said it was encouraging that contacts had resumed with Washington.

But Medvedev, who has repeatedly hurled invective at Kyiv and Western powers while warning of the risks of an escalation of the war towards a nuclear "apocalypse", said the West had repeatedly ignored Russian interests.

"The situation is very dangerous," Medvedev told Reuters, TASS and the WarGonzo Russian war blogger in an interview at his residence outside Moscow.    �"REUTERS