Russia: Bolton’s “open and arrogant” coup confession unprecedented

Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that John Bolton’s statement on his involvement in organizing coups is an absolutely new revelation from a US politician that requires analysis.

“I do not remember any other person, who occupied such senior positions and was directly responsible for the international policy of the United States, would plainly say that he planned coups d’état in other countries. Once again: not supporting the democratic forces [in the countries], not promoting democracy, pluralism, etc. But like that, for a person, who has been in a position of power in the administrations of different presidents, to say in such an open and arrogant way that he was involved in planning coups abroad, I do not remember,” Zakharova told Radio Sputnik.

In a CNN interview on Tuesday, the former US national security adviser explicitly admitted to having a hand in overthrowing governments around the world.

In the interview with CNN anchor Jake Tapper, Bolton was asked which countries he was referring to: “I’m not going to get into the specifics,” Bolton said, before mentioning Venezuela. “It turned out not to be successful. Not that we had all that much to do with it but I saw what it took for an opposition to try and overturn an illegally elected president and they failed,” he said.

“It is important to know in which other countries the United States planned coups d’état,” Zakharova added.

In 2019, Bolton publicly supported Juan Guaido’s demand that the military back his conspiracy to overthrow the government of democratically-elected socialist leader President Nicolas Maduro, arguing that the Venezuelan election was illegitimate. The coup failed and Nicolas Maduro remains Venezuela’s president, despite all US-led unilateral sanctions and embargos.