The United States walked out of a United Nations Conference on Disarmament Tuesday to protest Venezuela chairing the session, Reuters reported.

“We have to try to do what we can to prevent these types of states from presiding over international bodies,” Robert Wood, U.S. disarmament ambassador, told the news service in Geneva.

“A representative of Juan Guaido, the interim president, should be in this body, should be sitting in that chair right now," he added. "The former [Nicolás] Maduro regime is in essence dead, it just doesn’t want to lay down.”

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The U.S., along with more than 50 other countries, recognizes National Assembly leader Juan Guaidó as Venezuela's interim president.

Guaidó declared himself president in January, alleging that Maduro's last election was illegitimate.

Late last month, Guaidó and his supporters unsuccessfully attempted to oust Maduro.

Maduro's government still controls Venezuela's state institutions, including their foreign policy agency.

The incumbent president has called Guaidó a puppet of the U.S. and refuses to step down.

The U.S. also walked out of a disarmament forum last year after Syria assumed the rotating chair position.