Venezuelan President Wants to See Russia Among "Friends" Involved in Settlement of the Country's Crisis

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez insists that Russia be included in the group of countries, which has been set up to assist settlement of the Venezuela crisis. The president said that at a press conference in New York after meeting UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on Thursday.

Mr Chavez highly said he appreciates the fact that a "group of friends" of the Organization of American States Secretary General, Cesar Gaviria, was set up on Wednesday to intensify regional efforts to unblock the Venezuelan crisis.

At the same time, the group, comprising the USA, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Spain and Portugal, should be enlarged to include Russia, France, China and Algeria, the President believes.