Maldonado made the invitation to his Russian counterpart Oleg Matytsin during a meeting prior to the event scheduled for April 21 to 29 in the South American country.

"I have no doubt that the ALBA Games with Russian participation will give a new impetus to the dynamic development of sports interaction between our countries," Matytsin said, as reported by Russian state-run news agency TASS.

The Games are set to see approximately 3,500 athletes from 11 countries compete in 35 sports.

In addition to Russia and the hosts, Cuba, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Sain Vincent and the Grenadines, and Saint Lucia are due to take part.

The invitation comes as part of a sporting agreement between Russia and Venezuela that was signed in October 2021.

Plans are still being developed to figure out how best to implement the programme which is due to see joint training and competitions held, the exchange of coaching knowledge in rhythmic gymnastics, judo, boxing, wrestling, fencing and swimming.

Russia's Sports Ministry also provides consulting support to Venezuela on best practices for running its anti-doping operations.

It is not just sport that the two countries have partnered in.

Last year, Venezuela received a shipment of 789,742 containers of insulin from Russia in order to strengthen its national public health system.

"The supply contract has already been fulfilled and a new stage of cooperation has begun in the framework of health protection with the technological transfer and production of insulin," said Sergey Mélik-Bagdasárov, Russian ambassador to Venezuela.