ISTANBUL

Russia’s Embassy in Caracas on Monday issued a travel advisory, urging its citizens to avoid travelling to Venezuela “unless absolutely necessary.”

The advisory, posted on the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Situation and Crisis Center, said that it “strongly advised” against travelling to the South American nation “in connection with the US armed aggression against Venezuela and threats of further attacks.”

This came after the US launched a “large-scale” operation against Venezuela on Saturday, capturing President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, who were flown to the US to face criminal charges at a court in New York.

Some 80 people were killed in the US raid, the New York Times reported, citing Venezuelan officials.

Maduro and Flores are being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. They face US federal charges tied to drug trafficking and alleged cooperation with gangs designated as terrorist organizations.

Maduro has denied the accusations, and officials in Venezuela’s capital Caracas have called for the couple’s release.

On Saturday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Moscow, in light of Maduro and Flores' capture, “strongly” urged Washington to “reconsider this position and release the legitimately elected president of a sovereign country and his wife.”