CARACAS, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- The latest U.S. sanctions on Russian-owned oil firm Rosneft Trading, due to its trade ties with Venezuela, harm average Venezuelan workers, Foreign Affairs Minister Jorge Arreaza said on Tuesday.
"The U.S. coercive, unilateral measures against Rosneft Trading are aimed against our oil industry, its workers and the Venezuelan economy," Arreaza said via Twitter.
"They continue to attack the Venezuelan people, trying to incite suffering and hardship," he added.
Arreaza denounced the new measures after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the sanctions aimed at "cutting off (Venezuelan President Nicolas) Maduro's main lifeline to evade our sanctions on the Venezuelan oil sector."
Rosneft Trading, a Swiss affiliate of Russian oil company Rosneft, works with Venezuela's state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela S.A.(PDVSA) to commercialize Venezuelan crude.
Arreaza said his country will denounce the sanctions at the International Criminal Court.
