Maduro regime blocks Guaido from office

But National Assembly legislature speaker Guaido immediately shot back that the 15-year prohibition announced on state television by Maduro's Auditor General Elvis Amoroso was invalid.

"He is not auditor general.... The legitimate congress is the only one with power to designate an auditor general," he said.

The announcement also prompted a withering response from Washington, where State Department spokesman Robert Palladino described the move in a brief remark as "ridiculous."

It was the latest scuffle between Maduro and Guaido, who lay rival claims to be the legitimate leader of the oil-producing South American nation of 30 million people.

The competition has been escalated into a geopolitical struggle, drawing in the US and its allies which support Guaido, and Russia, Cuba and China backing Maduro.

Russia has sent some hundred of its soldiers in Venezuela. Some reports said the soldiers were there to operate air defense systems bought from Russia.

Maduro, who so far has heeded US warnings to not arrest Guaido under threat of unspecified repercussions, appears nonetheless more confident since Moscow's overt protection.