Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, right, speaks with Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez during a meeting in Moscow on March 1, 2019

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Buenos Aires (AFP)

The Lima Group condemned Tuesday the presence of Russian military planes in Venezuela as a provocation threatening regional peace.

The 13 Latin American states and Canada said they were concerned "over the arrival of two Russian military aircraft" in Venezuela and condemned "any provocation or military deployment that threatens peace and security in the region."

The statement was issued by the foreign ministry of group member Argentina.

The body, set up in 2017 to advocate for a regional solution to Venezuela's political and economic crisis, also renewed a call to nations that still maintain friendly ties with "the illegitimate regime of Nicolas Maduro" to help search for a democratic solution.

Russia, which recognizes Maduro as leader, sent two planes carrying 100 troops and tons of military equipment to Caracas on Saturday.

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido charged that the deployment violates the constitution of the troubled South American country.

Russia's foreign ministry said the deployment was "in strict accordance with the constitution of that country and with full respect for its legal norms."

The Lima Group -- comprising Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Santa Lucia -- all recognize Guaido as interim president.

? 2019 AFP </s> BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia on Tuesday rejected a Russian warning against foreign military intervention in Venezuela and said it supported a peaceful transition to democracy in the neighboring South American country.

"Colombia reiterates that the transition to democracy must be conducted by the Venezuelans themselves peacefully and within the framework of the Constitution and international law, supported by political and diplomatic means, without the use of force," Colombian Foreign Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo said in a statement.

He was responding to a March 28 letter from the upper house of Russia's parliament, forwarded to Colombia's Congress by Russian Ambassador Sergei Koshkin, that said the "illegitimate use of military force against Venezuela by other states that support the opposition will be interpreted ... as an act of aggression against a sovereign state."

Venezuelan soldiers stand guard at the Tienditas International Bridge that links Colombia and Venezuela, near Urena, Venezuela, February 8, 2019. Associated Press

Russia has emerged as a staunch backer of Venezuela's leftist President Nicolas Maduro as his nation descended into political turmoil this year. The United States and dozens of other nations have backed opposition leader Juan Guaido, who invoked the constitution to assume Venezuela's interim presidency in January, arguing that Maduro's 2018 re-election was illegitimate.

Colombia, which supports Guaido, has repeatedly denied it has any intention of launching a military offensive across its border with Venezuela.

But in his statement on Tuesday, Trujillo said military support for Maduro's socialist government risked harming the transition to democracy while threatening regional peace and security.

The March touchdown near Caracas of two Russian air force planes carrying some 100 Russian special forces and cyber-security personnel has raised international concerns about Moscow's backing for Maduro.

Russia, which has supplied fighter jets, tanks, and air defense systems to Venezuela, has dismissed US criticism of its military cooperation with Caracas saying it is not interfering in the Latin American country's internal affairs and poses no threat to regional stability.

An airplane with the Russian flag at Simon Bolivar International Airport in Caracas, Venezuela, March 24, 2019. REUTERS/Carlos Jasso

Russian state-owned defense firm Rostec said Monday that it had owned a training center in Venezuela to teach the country's pilots to fly Russian-made Mi-35M helicopters gunships and Russian-made military transport helicopters.

Igor Chechikov, deputy chief executive at Russian Helicopters, told Russian news agencies on Tuesday that all the necessary equipment has been delivered to Venezuela and that construction of the training center should be done by the end of this year.

Colombia acted as a staging ground in February as the United States and other countries supported Guaido's effort to transport hundreds of tons of humanitarian aid into Venezuela. Maduro, who dismisses Guaido as a U.S. puppet, blocked the aid and Venezuelan troops pushed back protesters with tear gas.

Millions of Venezuelans have fled to Colombia to escape widespread food and medicine shortages in their chaotic homeland, seeking jobs locally and passage into other Latin American countries. </s> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The deployment by Russia of air force planes and personnel in Venezuela over the weekend is a “reckless escalation of the situation,” the U.S. State Department said on Monday, confirming news reports that Russian planes had arrived in Caracas on Sunday.

“The United States condemns Russia’s deployment of military aircraft and personnel to Caracas, which is another contradiction of both Nicolas Maduro’s and Russia’s calls for non-intervention in Venezuela and is a reckless escalation of the situation,” a department spokesman said. </s> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told his Russian counterpart on Monday Washington would “not stand idly by” while Russia throws its weight behind Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, after two Russian air force planes with scores of troops reportedly landed in the OPEC nation.

The Russian planes and nearly 100 military personnel arrived outside the Venezuelan capital Caracas on Saturday, according to local media reports.. If confirmed, the arrival could underscore a strengthening of ties between Moscow and Maduro’s embattled socialist government.

Pompeo spoke to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov about Venezuela on Monday, State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said in a statement.

The statement did not specifically mention reports about the Russian planes but condemned any Russian military support for the “illegitimate regime of Nicolas Maduro.”

“The secretary called on Russia to cease its unconstructive behaviour,” Palladino said in a statement.

During the call with Lavrov, Pompeo urged Moscow to join the United States and regional countries in backing opposition leader Juan Guaido.

“Ridiculous. ‘Unconstructive behaviour’ is stealing Venezuela’s resources and using them to finance corrupt terrorists like Guaido,” Venezuelan Foreign Ministry official William Castillo wrote on Twitter.

Bloomberg news, citing an unnamed Venezuelan information ministry official, reported that the landing of the Russian air force planes was in line with long-term Russia-Venezuela military accords. The purpose of the visit was to perform maintenance on Russian military equipment that Venezuela had purchased, Bloomberg reported.

The information ministry did not respond to requests for comment on the presence of the planes or the Bloomberg report.

The United States believes up to 100 Russian military personnel may have disembarked but it was unclear how many of them might have stayed and how many returned to the aircraft, according to a U.S. official who asked not to be identified. The official declined to speculate about their purpose in Venezuela.

“#Russia is deploying military personnel in (the western) . Hemisphere in #Venezuela,” wrote U.S. Senator Marco Rubio on Twitter. “This is a direct challenge to our national interest & poses a direct threat to our national security.”

Russia has warned the United States and neighbours against a military intervention in Venezuela.

U.S. President Donald Trump said in 2017 that the “military option” was on the table when it comes to Venezuela, but administration officials have since downplayed talk of armed intervention.

The Trump administration has imposed crippling sanctions on Venezuela’s crucial oil industry. On Friday it sanctioned its development bank, Bandes, in efforts to choke off financial flows to Maduro’s government and called on Venezuelan military leaders to abandon him.

Maduro has denounced the sanctions as U.S. intervention and maintains diplomatic backing from Russia, China and Cuba. </s> MIAMI - Despite the United States opposition to Russia's military involvement in Venezuela, a Russian corporation recently set up a military helicopter training center in partnership with the Venezuelan government.

Russia's Rosoboronexport, a state-owned intermediary agency, and the Venezuelan Company of Military Industries, or CAVIM, the state-owned firearms manufacturer, according to Rostec, the Russian state-owned corporation for the export of advanced technology.

Rostec reported on Facebook that the center will allow Venezuelan pilots to train to fly Mi-17V-5, Mi-35M and Mi-26T helicopters with simulator control center.

"The center makes the training of pilots safer, more efficient and reduces the cost significantly," the statement says.

Russian military personnel is working with Venezuelan military pilots despite U.S. warnings against offering military support to embattled President Nicolas Maduro's administration. President Donald Trumps' national security adviser John Bolton has said he views the support as a threat.

"We strongly caution actors external to the Western Hemisphere against deploying military assets to Venezuela, or elsewhere in the Hemisphere, with the intent of establishing or expanding military operations," Bolton said Friday. "We will consider such provocative actions as a direct threat to international peace and security in the region." </s> Two Russian aircraft carrying military officials arrived in Venezuela over the weekend as part of the ongoing military cooperation between the two countries, Russian media has reported.

A diplomatic source told RIA Novosti that Russia and Venezuela have a number of ongoing contracts signed a few years ago, including ones in technical military cooperation, and the military personnel arrived to take part in bilateral consultations.

“There is nothing mysterious” about the visit, the unnamed source was quoted as saying.

According to popular flight-tracking website Flightradar24, Russian Ilyushin IL-62 passenger jet and Antonov AN-124 military cargo plane left on Friday from Russian military airport Chkalovsky, stopping on its way in Syria before landing in Caracas.

Javier Mayorca, a Venezuelan journalist, wrote on Twitter on Saturday that about 100 troops and 35 tonnes of cargo was offloaded from the Russian planes, one of which was carrying chief of staff of the ground forces, Vasily Tonkoshkurov.

The two planes with Russian flags and a group of men in military uniform were photographed at the airport.

The Russian Defense Ministry has not commented on the reports.

The planes arrive three months after the two long-time allies held joint military exercises in Venezuela.

Moscow and Caracas have strengthened ties in recent months as the Kremlin continues to support President Nicolás Maduro and criticizes Western nations for backing Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó, who declared himself interim president in January.

Last week, US and Russian officials held talks on Venezuela’s crisis which ended with the two sides failing to narrow their positions. Russian officials say they are concerned that Washington is considering a military solution in Venezuela.

While the US continues to impose sanctions against the oil-rich country, President Maduro’s government is becoming more and more dependent on its few remaining supporters – Russia and China.

Venezuelan senior officials have come frequent visitors in Moscow, and this month Venezuela announced its plan to move state oil company PDVSA’s office to Moscow from Lisbon.

Mr Maduro on Wednesday said Russia was planning to send medical aid this week. He said that last month Moscow had sent some 300 tonnes of humanitarian aid to Venezuela, which has been experiencing severe shortages of food. </s> WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A Russian military contingent that arrived in Venezuela over the weekend, drawing U.S. condemnation, is believed by the U.S. government to be made up of special forces including "cybersecurity personnel," a U.S. official told Reuters on Tuesday.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the United States was still assessing the Russian deployment, which Washington has called a "reckless escalation" of the situation in Venezuela.

Two Russian air force planes landed outside Caracas on Saturday carrying nearly 100 Russian troops, according to local media reports, two months after the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump disavowed Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Venezuela's government has confirmed two planes landed from Russia at the weekend and were authorized by Maduro but has given no more details.

The Trump administration has recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country's legitimate president and demands that Maduro step down. Russia has described this as a U.S.-backed coup against the socialist government.

The U.S. determination that the Russian contingent includes cybersecurity specialists suggests that part of their mission could be helping Maduro's loyalists with surveillance as well as protection of the government's cyber infrastructure.

Russia's main objective in providing the military assistance, including cyber experts, would likely be to help shield Maduro from "regime change" and ensure a foothold for Moscow in Latin America, according to a source familiar with U.S. government assessments of Venezuela. Russia also has major energy investments in OPEC member Venezuela.

Russia's foreign ministry said on Tuesday that the presence of "Russian specialists" in Venezuela was governed by a military-technical cooperation agreement between the two countries. It did not provide further details.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in a phone call on Monday that Washington would "not stand idly by" as Russia backed Maduro.

The United States and most Western countries have backed Guaido while Russia, China and Cuba are among those that have continued to support Maduro, who retains control of Venezuela's state institutions, including the military.

On Tuesday afternoon the Lima Group of Latin American countries said in a statement it was concerned about the arrival of military airplanes in Venezuela.

"We reiterate our condemnation of any military provocation or deployment that threatens peace and security in the region," said the group formed in 2017 to pressure Maduro, which includes Brazil, Canada, Colombia and Peru.

U.S. Senator Bob Menendez, ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, sent a letter to Pompeo on Tuesday urging him to determine if Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua should face mandatory U.S. sanctions for conducting significant transactions with the Russian defense and intelligence sectors.

The post Russian Deployment in Venezuela Includes ‘Cybersecurity Personnel’ appeared first on Washington Free Beacon. </s> The Pentagon has posted images of the interception of one of its reconnaissance aircraft by a Venezuelan military aviation aircraft over the Caribbean Sea.

According to the US Department of Defense, a Venezuelan Su-30 fighter intercepted an American Navy Aries II EP-3 in international airspace “in an unprofessional manner” and ” aggressively tracked ” an “unsafe distance” for the crew and the aircraft.

Showing images of the incident, the US Army said on Sunday that the interception occurred on July 19 on the Caribbean Sea.

In a statement, Washington accuses Russia of the incident because the Russian-made hunt, and claims that this action demonstrates Russia’s irresponsible military support to the Nicolas Maduro government.

“This demonstrates action #Russia’s military irresponsible to support illegitimate system’s of Maduro & underscores’s recklessness & irresponsible behavior, Which rule of law undermines Int’l & efforts to counter illicit trafficking,” the US Southern Command said in a delusional tweet.

However, these fighters were acquired in the mid-2000s, under the presidency of Hugo Chavez.

The Venezuelan government reported that it had responded to an “incursion of a US reconnaissance and intelligence aircraft” (capable of interfering with communication systems), which violated the national airspace in a “frank provocation to the country” near Caracas .

Images of the incident were also shared by the Venezuelan military . During the interception, there was no physical contact between aircraft.

According to the information presented on the website of the Venezuelan government, an American EP-3E ARIES II radio-electronic intelligence and exploration aircraft entered Venezuelan airspace.

According to Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López, the US aircraft entered Venezuelan airspace “without an aeronautical frequency report … constituting an aircraft risk for other aircraft.”

In addition, during a televised ceremony the minister explained that “things like this happen almost every day” in the Venezuelan seas and skies.

Caracas has 24 Su-30 fighters purchased from Russia and plans to acquire another 12 units under the military-technical cooperation with Moscow. </s> MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia has opened a training center in Venezuela to help the country’s pilots fly Russian-made military helicopters, Russian state-owned industrial conglomerate Rostec said on Monday, Moscow’s latest gesture of support for President Nicolas Maduro.

Rostec said the center was inaugurated on Thursday last week, the same day as the White House warned Moscow and other countries backing Maduro against sending troops and military equipment, saying the United States would view such actions as a “direct threat” to the region’s security.

Washington, which backs Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, issued the warning after two Russian air force planes carrying nearly 100 military personnel landed outside Caracas, a contingent the Kremlin described as military specialists.

Rostec said the new training facility, the location of which it did not disclose, had been set up with the help of Russian specialists and was designed to train Venezuelan pilots to fly Russian-made Mi-35M helicopter gunships as well as Russian-made military transport helicopters.

The facility was opened under a contract with Venezuelan state-owned weapons maker CAVIM. Rostec said it wanted to deepen military and technical cooperation with Venezuela’s ministry of defense if possible.

Russia, which has also supplied fighter jets, tanks, and air defense systems to Venezuela, has dismissed U.S. criticism of its military cooperation with Caracas saying it is not interfering in the Latin American country’s internal affairs and poses no threat to regional stability.

U.S. President Donald Trump has said that “Russia has to get out” of Venezuela and that “all options” are open to force it to reduce its help for Maduro, raising the prospect of new U.S. sanctions against Moscow.
The Lima Group condemns the presence of Russian military planes in Venezuela as a "provocation threatening peace and security in the region."