ANAA, March 11 (Saba) - US envoy to Venezuela Eliot Abrams said on Sunday that there is no sign that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is ready to negotiate an end to the political crisis with opposition leader Juan Guido.



Abrams said in a statement that the Venezuelans should reach a negotiated solution and that the United States could help lift or ease US sanctions and travel restrictions once Maduro agreed to step down.



"The Russians are not satisfied with Maduro for all the obvious reasons ... They told me in two conversations that they advised him and did not take their advice," Abrams said.



"They still support him and there is no indication, I think, that they told him it was time to end this," Abrams said.



"Maybe it will be time for the Russians to conclude that this system can no longer be saved," he said.



But the US envoy played down any possibility of the Venezuelan president's willingness to talk about his departure, saying: "From everything we see in Maduro's plan to stay."



Venezuela is under growing tension after the president of the National Assembly declared himself the interim president of the country.





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