Russia today urged the Venezuelan opposition to admit defeat in the 28 July presidential elections and warned against attempts to destabilise the situation in the South American nation from outside.

We see that the opposition does not want to resign itself to its defeat, but we believe it should do so and congratulate the winner of these elections, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday.

For the Kremlin representative, it is now «extremely important that third countries stop encouraging attempts to destabilise the situation in Venezuela, and that there is no external interference in Venezuela».

The South American nation held presidential elections on Sunday 28 July. The National Electoral Council (CNE) on Monday proclaimed incumbent Nicolás Maduro as re-elected president for the 2025-2031 term.

Candidate for the leftist Gran Polo Patriotico coalition, Maduro won 51.2 per cent of the vote, compared to 44.2 per cent for Edmundo Gonzalez of the opposition United Democratic Platform (PUD, centre). The PUD rejected the results and announced Gonzalez as «president-elect».

Countries such as Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Peru, Panama, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay refused to recognise Maduro’s re-election, prompting Caracas to announce the immediate withdrawal of diplomatic personnel.

Other nations avoided strong statements, but insisted on verifying the election results «table by table».

Protests against the election results were reported in several regions of Venezuela on Monday.

Venezuelan Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino López reported that 23 members of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces were injured in clashes in the last few hours in the midst of these protests.