Venezuelan President Starts International Tour in Russia

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro landed in Russia Monday for a working meeting en route to the CELAC-China Summit in Beijing as part of an international tour. 

The president was received in Moscow by Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov (scroll through the above photos to see the arrival and initial meeting). 

Maduro is traveling with other top Venezuelan officials and the First Lady Cilia Flores, on a tour that will take in the OPEC countries, where he will address the “economic war” he says the U.S. is waging on some oil producing nations.

Maduro will end up in Beijing Thursday to participate in the first meeting between the Community of Latin American and Caribbean Nations (CELAC) and China. 

When he announced the tour, Maduro indicated the importance of the Venezuela-China partnership, calling Chinese leader Xi Jinping “A great leader of this new world era.”