Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza stressed on Monday that President Nicolas Maduro may visit the Russian city of St Petersburg next month to attend an economic forum there.

Arreaza added that Caracas prefers diplomacy to solve the ongoing political crisis, but is ready for any scenario, and will retaliate if the United States chooses to take military action against the government of President Nicolas Maduro.

“We are prepared for any scenario… If [the US] prefers the military path, we are ready to resist — we have an army, police, our people, and we are ready to destroy any army, no matter how powerful it is”, he said, adding that Caracas has consistently called on Washington to resolve all issues through dialogue.

The foreign minister continued on by saying that the number of Russian military experts in Venezuela may be increased.

Source: Russian media