The media shouldn’t turn into a tool for forces seeking to escalate the situation in Venezuela by spreading fake news, the Russian Foreign Ministry said accusing the opposition of resorting to violence in the ongoing coup attempt.

“Objective” reporting is of the “utmost importance” for Venezuela, the ministry said in a statement as it called on the media around the world to avoid spreading false reports that would only make the situation on the ground worse. This serves the agenda of those players who want to plunge the Latin American nation into chaos, it said.

Moscow then accused the US-backed Venezuelan opposition led by the self-proclaimed interim president, Juan Guaido, of a brazen attempt to draw the armed forces into clashes and use the unfolding chaos to seize power.

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“The radical opposition in Venezuela has once again returned to violent methods of confrontation,” the ministry said. “Instead of peacefully settling political differences, they have taken a course designed to whip up conflict, and provoke breaches of public order and clashes involving the armed forces.”

The Foreign Ministry also called on all sides of the political conflict inside Venezuela to stop violence and avoid bloodshed as it urged the international community to encourage all “responsible” forces in Venezuela to return to dialogue to resolve their differences.

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Earlier on Tuesday, Guaido posted a video filmed near an air base in Caracas, in which he called for a coup against the government of President Nicolas Maduro while being surrounded by people in military uniforms. The opposition leader has been struggling to win over the troops for months since declaring himself ‘interim president’ in January.

Maduro responded by saying that all military commanders have stayed loyal to the government, and the Venezuelan defense minister has since said the uprising has been “partly defeated.” Meanwhile, Guaido’s actions were promptly backed by Washington, which called on the Venezuelan Army to side with its protégé.

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