CARACAS, April 14. /TASS/. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has sent a request to the Constitutional Assembly to integrate national militia into the Bolivarian Armed Forces.

"I am asking the Constitutional Assembly and the General Staff to review the main charter of the Bolivarian Armed Forces, in order to grant a constitutional status to the Bolivarian national militia, to make it a part of the Armed Forces," Maduro said in a speech broadcast live on Twitter on Saturday.

The Venezuelan president earlier called on people to join the national militia to defend the country.

On January 23 Venezuelan National Assembly Speaker Juan Guaido proclaimed himself as the country's acting president. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has described it as a coup attempt and announced severing diplomatic relations with the United States. On January 28 the US imposed sancitons on Venezuela's state-owned PDVSA oil company.

Guaido was recognized as interim president by the Lima Group countries (except for Mexico), as well as by Albania, Georgia, the United States, and the Organization of American States. Several EU countries came forward with support for the Venezuelan parliament and expressed hope for new elections to resolve the crisis. Maduro was supported by Russia, Bolivia, Iran, Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Turkey. Belarus and China called for resolving all issues by peaceful means and spoke against any interference from the outside. The UN secretary general called for dialogue to resolve the crisis.