The Russian presence in Venezuela is not new, much less the Cuban or the Iranian. However, the statements by Vladimir Putin’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Sergei Ryabkov, in which a possible military deployment in the South American country, they have turned on the alerts.
(You can read: Russia contemplates sending troops to Cuba and Venezuela in the face of tension with the West)
Ryabok has said that if tensions rise with the United States (USA) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), his country would send troops not only to Venezuela but to Cuba as well, unleashing anger in Caracas and Washington, but applause from the administration of Nicolás Maduro.
The Venezuelan Minister of Defense, General in Chief Vladimir Padrino López, has been emphatic through his Twitter account, in which he wrote: “Russia is showing the possibility of deepening the military cooperation relations of our nations, which already exist. ”.
And that existence goes back at least to 2019, so recalls Joseph Humire, executive director of the Center for a Secure Free Society (SFS, for its acronym in English). Humire brings up when in March of that year the commander of the forces
Russian land forces, General Vasilii Petrovich Tonkoshkurov, moved to Venezuela to begin the so-called ‘Syrian strategy’, which consisted of keeping Bashar Al Assad in power through military power.
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Humire has also pointed out that Russian military assets are on the Colombian border with p18 mobile radars, with radio reconnaissance units.
“So don’t be fooled by the hype that Russia is considering sending military assets to Cuba and Venezuela. They have been doing this for years”, insists Humire, also an analyst of trans-regional threat networks in Latin America and the Middle East.
In the US, the Russian minister’s statements have been described as a ‘bluff’ and NATO believes that the sending of troops is worrying. For his part, Juan Guaidó, from Caracas, has rejected the intentions of the Putin government and has demanded that the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) “respond” to the Russian attempt.
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But, Padrino López assures that the opposition, which he calls “vile spokesman for the anti-country” cannot speak of sovereignty when, according to him, it has requested military intervention and sanctions against the country.
Relations between Russia and Venezuela are not new, since Hugo Chavez they already existed and have been maintained until today. One of the latest news before the end of 2021 was about the progress of construction in the country of the kalashnikov rifle factory, which is expected to be ready by mid-2022, a contract that was signed in 2001.
Russia and Venezuela maintain close ties of cooperation in different areas, not just weapons. A commercial route was opened between Caracas and Moscow through the state airline Conviasa. Russian citizens come to vacation in destinations such as the island of Margarita or Canaima.
ANA RODRIGUEZ BRAZON
TIME CORRESPONDENT
CARACAS
@anarodriguez_b
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