Washington - The United States is pondering the implementation of additional sanctions on Cuba and Russia for their support to the Venezuelan government, says Elliott Abrams, the U.S. special envoy for Venezuela.

During a forum organized by the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD) in Washington, Abrams  anticipated that the U.S. is considering more sanctions against Havana, and did not rule out others against Moscow because of its support for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

"The pressures on Cuba have increased a lot since January and will continue to increase, and we have made it clear that it was because of their actions in Venezuela," said Abrams, who added that, "for Russia, we are still thinking about what sanctions to apply, whether individual or sectoral sanctions," he said.

Abrams stressed that Vladimir Putin's government is not "helping" Caracas "from a financial point of view," but it is helping it sell its oil, which is the target of U.S. sanctions.