By Simon Lewis and Daphne Psaledakis
WASHINGTON, Dec 19 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday told reporters that the United States is not concerned about an escalation with Russia when it comes to Venezuela, as President Donald Trump builds up military forces in the Caribbean.
The Trump administration has sent thousands of troops to the region, along with an aircraft carrier, warships and fighter jets.
"We're not concerned about an escalation with Russia, with regards to Venezuela," Rubio told reporters.
"We've always expected them to provide rhetorical support for the Maduro regime... (but) it's not a factor in how we consider this whole thing," Rubio added.
Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Thursday it hoped that Trump's administration would not make a fatal mistake over Venezuela and said Moscow was concerned about U.S. decisions that threatened international shipping.
While Venezuela and Russia have close ties, a recent strategy document from Trump said the United States will reassert its dominance in the Western Hemisphere and argued that the U.S. should revive the 19th century Monroe Doctrine, which declared the Western Hemisphere to be Washington's zone of influence.
The Trump administration has also carried out strikes against suspected drug vessels in the region, seized a sanctioned oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, and declared a "blockade" of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela.
Trump has also repeatedly said that strikes on land in Venezuela are coming soon.
Democratic lawmakers have said that the Trump administration has provided limited information about the operations in the region.
"Nothing has happened that requires us to notify Congress or get congressional approval or cross the threshold into war," Rubio said.
He said there were strikes against suspected drug vessels that the administration did not go ahead with because it failed to meet their criteria.
"We know who's on those boats. We've been tracking them from the very beginning," said Rubio. "We know everything about them, okay? There are boat strikes we don't take because they don't meet the criteria, the legal criteria."
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil criticized Rubio's comments, accusing him of being an expert in regime change and pushing the U.S. down that path.
"All of his attacks and 'fake news' are aimed at plundering Venezuela’s oil, land, minerals, and resources," he said in a post on Telegram.
(Reporting by Simon Lewis, Daphne Psaledakis and Bhargav Acharya. Writing by Idrees Ali, editing by Deepa Babington and Diane Craft)
