“Sputnik V is already here! We are the first country in the Western Hemisphere to begin phase 3 of the clinical trials of this vaccine against COVID-19. On behalf of the Venezuelan people, I thank President Vladimir Putin and the Russian people for their solidarity,” he wrote on Twitter on Friday, TASS reported.

On Friday morning, the first batch of the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine arrived in Venezuela. About 2,000 Venezuelans will participate in clinical trials of the vaccine, according to the authorities. The country’s Vice President, Delcy Rodriguez, noted that Venezuela also plans to launch production of the vaccine on its territory.

On August 11, Russia became the first country to register a coronavirus vaccine, which was named Sputnik V. Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said the vaccine created by the N. F. Gamaleya Federal Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology had shown its effectiveness and safety on the outcomes of clinical trials. It was created on a platform that had been used for the development of a number of other vaccines. On August 15, the Russian Health Ministry announced the launch of vaccine production.

In August, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund Kirill Dmitriev said that Russia had received a request for the production and supply of 1 bln doses of the Sputnik V vaccine from 20 states.

“Venezuela is working on a new anti-sanctions law, it is a constitutional law against US criminal sanctions. We will submit it to the National Assembly on Tuesday,” Maduro said on Sunday, as broadcast on his Twitter account.

According to the Venezuelan president, a new poll will be carried out to find out what kind of damage various sectors of the country’s economy have suffered because of US sanctions.

The new law will include measures that will alleviate negative economic, financial and social effects of US sanctions, Maduro said, Sputnik reported.

A lot of the western sanctions introduced against Venezuela have targeted the country’s state-run oil and gas company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) and its subsidiaries, in an attempt to seize its foreign assets and prevent the firm from completing transactions.

On Monday, the US announced new sanctions against Maduro, imposed over his cooperation with Iran.

On Tuesday, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced fresh sanctions against five Venezuelan individuals. The Treasury Department said they were current or former members of the Venezuelan government who had allegedly colluded with Maduro in a scheme “to manipulate” the parliamentary elections and to undermine any credible opposition challenge to the government. Maduro condemned the sanctions calling them illegal.

In January 2019, Venezuela plunged into a political crisis when the then-head of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, Juan Guaido proclaimed himself interim president in a bid to oust reelected President Maduro from power. The United States and most of Western countries have endorsed Guaido and slapped crippling sanctions on Venezuela. Russia, China, Iran, Turkey and other nations have supported Maduro.

The man is said to be a Marine who worked for the CIA in Iraq.

The spy was trying to collect information on the refineries in Amuay and Cardon, Maduro said in a televised address on Friday. The two facilities are located on the Paraguana Peninsula, along the Venezuelan coast just south of Aruba.

According to the president, the detained American is a member of the US Marine Corps who worked with the CIA in Iraq, and was captured with “heavy, specialized weapons and a large amount of cash.”

Maduro added that he ordered heightened security at all Venezuelan refineries after the spy was captured. Earlier, he said, the country’s Petroleum Ministry discovered and thwarted a plan “to cause an explosion” at the El Palito refinery in Carabobo, west of Caracas, RT reported.

It is a war of revenge by the gringo empire to prevent Venezuela from producing all petroleum derivatives and gasoline

Maduro accused the US of waging an economic war against Venezuela, trying to destroy the country’s oil industry. “They have reached a level of madness,” he said.

Washington has accused Maduro of being a “dictator” and recognized opposition politician Juan Guaido as “interim president” back in January 2019. Despite the support of the US and most Latin American states, however, Guaido has failed in repeated attempts to take power in Caracas.

The US oil embargo has hit Venezuela hard, reducing its exports to lowest levels since 1943 and only rising slightly in August due to special purchases from India. The US has confiscated any property of the Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA and redirected it to the coffers of Guaido and his supporters.

The Bank of England likewise blocked Caracas from accessing some $1 billion in gold stored in its vaults, with British judges ruling it rightly belonged to the US-backed politician instead.

Two former members of the US military have already been detained in Venezuela earlier this year. Employees of the Florida-based mercenary outfit Silvercorp, former US Army Special Forces operators (‘Green Berets’) were captured in May, after trying to cross from Colombia. They admitted they were trying to abduct Maduro and install Guaido as president. One of them, Luke Denman, later told Venezuelan TV that Guaido had “greatly misled” them about the situation in Venezuela.

The US government denied any knowledge or involvement in the operation. So did Guaido, insisting he had “no link, commitment or responsibility to Silvercorp or its actions.” Earlier in May, however, the Washington Post had published a 41-page contract between Guaido and Silvercorp referring to him as “commander in chief.”

Denman told the Venezuelan authorities the company’s executives had met with Guaido while he was visiting the White House. He and the other Green Beret, Airan Berry, were sentenced last month to 20 years in prison over the plot.

“It had not occurred to me, it had not occurred to us,” Maduro said during a televised broadcast with cabinet members, instructing Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino to follow up the plan, Reuters reported.

“Padrino, what a good idea, to speak with Iran to see what short, medium and long range missiles they have, and if it is possible, given the great relations we have with Iran.”

Iran in May supplied gasoline to Venezuela to ease chronic shortages, triggering alarm bells in Washington as the two countries expand trade relations amid efforts to undermine aggressive US sanctions programs.

“I am pleased that Russia will be the first country in the world to vaccinate its population”, Maduro said in a televised speech on Sunday, Sputnik reported.

“There will be a time when we all get vaccinated and the first to be vaccinated is me. I’m going to get the vaccine, I’m going to set an example”, he added.

Maduro said the government would then vaccinate healthcare workers, elderly people, and those with health conditions.

He went on to accuse the United States of blocking supplies of medicine to Venezuela, singling out Donald Trump’s special envoy, Elliott Abrams.

“They persecute us”, he added. “We are going to buy medicines against the coronavirus and they persecute us, they call the company and tell them, ‘Don’t sell the vaccine to Venezuela’”.

Last Tuesday, Russia became the first country to register a vaccine against the coronavirus. The vaccine, called Sputnik V and developed by the Moscow-based Gamaleya research institute, uses two strains of the adenovirus – which typically causes mild colds – to trigger an immune response.

Sputnik V promises to help people develop immunity against COVID-19 for two years. Health workers are the first to be vaccinated and a national roll-out is scheduled for January 2021.

Russia’s sovereign wealth fund (RDIF) said it had received preliminary applications for more than 1 billion doses of the vaccine from 20 countries

Sergei Melik-Bagdasarov, Russia’s ambassador to Venezuela, said last week that the Maduro government has shown interest in acquiring the vaccine.

He stressed, however, that it is too soon yet to name a specific timeframe for delivery because unilateral US sanctions stall the process.

Venezuela on Sunday reported 1,148 new coronavirus cases and 5 new deaths, bringing the total number of infected patients to 33,755 and the total death toll to 281, according to government figures.