State Department warns US citizens to leave Venezuela

Russia is calling the U.S. seizure of a Russia-flagged oil tanker in the northern Atlantic Ocean “illegal” and a "flagrant violation" of maritime law.

In a statement, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed the U.S. attempted to seize the Bella-1 in the Caribbean in December and followed it across the Atlantic Ocean. Russia said it notified the U.S. the oil tanker it calls the Mariner was a Russian ship.

“American authorities, including officially through the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, have repeatedly received reliable information regarding the vessel's Russian affiliation and its civilian, peaceful status," the ministry said. "They could not have had any doubts about this, nor was there any basis for speculating that the tanker was sailing 'without a flag' or 'under a false flag.'"

“The suggestions by individual US officials that the seizure of the Mariner is part of a broader strategy to establish Washington's unlimited control over Venezuela's natural resources are extremely cynical. We resolutely reject such neocolonialist pretensions,” the ministry added. “Washington's willingness to generate acute international crises, including in Russian-American relations, already severely strained by the disagreements of recent years, is regrettable and alarming.”

Russia said the action in the North Atlantic “cannot be interpreted as anything other than a flagrant violation of the fundamental principles and norms of international maritime law and freedom of navigation."

"The Marinera incident can only lead to a further escalation of military and political tensions in the Euro-Atlantic region," the statement said.

In a new interview with The New York Times published on Thursday, President Donald Trump said "only time will tell" how long the U.S. will maintain control of Venezuela's oil extraction industry -- suggesting American involvement there will stretch beyond a year.

Asked by the Times if it would be three months, six months, a year or even longer, Trump told them, "I would say much longer."

"We will rebuild it in a very profitable way," Trump said. "We're going to be using oil, and we're going to be taking oil. We're getting oil prices down, and we're going to be giving money to Venezuela, which they desperately need."

After Trump announced that the U.S. would obtain 30 to 50 million barrels of Venezuelan oil, he acknowledged to the Times that it will take years to revive their oil sector. "The oil will take a while," he said.

He said the U.S. was "getting along very well" with Venezuela's interim President Delcy Rodriguez, though would not say if he had spoken to her himself.

"Marco [Rubio] speaks to her all the time," he said. "I will tell you that we are in constant communication with her and the administration."

Trump made no commitments on when elections would be held or what might prompt him to send in American troops.

The Times asked if he would send American troops if the Venezuelan government blocked him from access to the country's oil or if Caracas refused to eject Russian and Chinese personnel.

"I can't tell you that," Trump said. "I really wouldn't want to tell you that, but they're treating us with great respect. As you know, we're getting along very well with the administration that is there right now."

-ABC News' Justin Ryan Gomez

Venezuelan interim President Delcy Rodriguez said Wednesday that Caracas is "open to energy relations where all parties benefit," as U.S. President Donald Trump and top American officials push for control of the country's massive energy resources.

Rodriguez made the remarks during a meeting with members of the National Assembly in Caracas.

"Venezuela is open to energy relations where all parties benefit, where economic cooperation is very well determined in commercial contracts, that is our position and the diversity of our energy relations," she said.

"Venezuela has one of the largest oil reserves on the planet and has the largest gas reserves," Rodriguez continued. "Those resources must be at the service of national development, and they must also be at the service of the development of other countries in the world, this is how our oil industry was born with an export vocation."

-ABC News' Will Gretsky

Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said in an address broadcast on state TV that at least 100 people died in the U.S. raid on Jan. 3 that led to the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife.

It's the first official statement on casualties from the Venezuelan government. Previously, Cuban officials have said 32 Cuban security officers were killed in the raid.

In his address, Cabello described the raid as a criminal act.

"Venezuela was the victim of a barbaric attack," he said.

-ABC News' Aicha El Hammar Castano