CARACAS, VENEZUELA (AP) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is accusing Donald Trump of seeking regime change in Venezuela as a way to divert attention from calls for his impeachment.

Mr Maduro on Thursday (Sept 26) returned from a trip to Russia where he met President Vladimir Putin.

But his attention was focused on New York, where Mr Trump this week held a meeting at the UN General Assembly with Latin American leaders to discuss the Venezuelan crisis.

Mr Maduro said the images of Mr Trump's "disgusting face" as he spoke to the "lapdogs of US imperialism" is an embarrassment that reflects the US President's "fatal obsession" with ousting him.

Mr Trump has recognised opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela's rightful leader and this week celebrated an agreement reached by 16 Latin American nations to slap sanctions on senior Maduro officials.