White House Hopes Trump Can Maintain Good Relations with Putin and Xi Despite Venezuela Issue

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. (Instagram/karolineleavitt)

JAKARTA - The White House hopes President Donald Trump can continue a good "personal relationship" with Russian President Vladimir Putin and China's Xi Jinping, despite Washington's actions against Venezuela, said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.

"I think the president has a very open, honest, and good relationship with President Putin of Russia and President Xi of China," he said at a press conference when asked how the United States' actions against Venezuela and the seizure of the Russian-flagged tanker Marinera by the US could affect Washington's relations with Moscow and Beijing, quoted from TASS (7/1).

"He has spoken to them many times, as you know, since taking office about a year ago, and I believe that personal relations will continue," he said.

Nevertheless, according to Leavitt, President Trump will "enforce our best policies for the United States."

"And with regard to the seizure of these ships, it means enforcing an embargo on all the dark fleet ships that illegally transport oil (Venezuela). And only the legitimate trade determined by the United States will be allowed," he said.

"That is the policy of this administration, and he (Trump) is not afraid to implement it," Leavitt said.

Previously, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil Pinto said on January 3, the US had attacked civilian and military facilities in Caracas. He condemned Washington's actions as military aggression. A state of emergency has been declared in Venezuela.

US President Donald Trump confirmed the attack on Venezuela. According to the US leader, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been arrested and taken out of the country. They were then taken to the United States and detained in a detention facility in Brooklyn, southern New York. On January 5, Maduro and his wife appeared before the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. US authorities accused them of being involved in drug trafficking, an accusation that both defendants have denied.

Russia is known to condemn the US attack on Venezuela, quoted from AFP and CNN. Meanwhile, China asked the US to immediately release President Maduro and his wife, condemning the US attack, as quoted by CNN.

President Trump claimed that the United States would take over the interim government of Venezuela. In addition, the US President expressed his confidence that Washington would secure compensation from Caracas for US oil companies.

He said the interim Venezuelan government would "hand over" between 30 and 50 million barrels of "high-quality" oil to the US.