MOSCOW - The Kremlin on Sunday denied news reports that Russian private military contractors were in Venezuela to protect embattled President Nicolas Maduro.

Several Russian and international media outlets have reported about Russian mercenaries sent to Venezuela to help Maduro who is under international pressure to hold elections.

Asked on television about whether there were "400 of our fighters protecting Maduro" in Venezuela, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded: "No of course not."

The Russian ambassador to Caracas also dismissed reports of Russian mercenaries in Venezuela.

On Friday, a self-proclaimed Cossack leader close to army veterans said a private military contractors group recently returned from Gabon had "urgently" got together "400 people" to send to Caracas via Cuba.

Yevgeny Shabayev, leader of a local chapter of a paramilitary group of Cossacks, said he had been contacted by relatives of the men because the objectives of the mission to Venezuela were "not clear".

Maduro is under pressure to hold elections after the United States, Canada and some South American governments recognised opposition rival Juan Guaido as acting president. </s> MOSCOW (Reuters) - Private military contractors who do secret missions for Russia flew into Venezuela in the past few days to beef up security for President Nicolas Maduro in the face of U.S.-backed opposition protests, according to two people close to them.

FILE PHOTO: Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro reacts with National Electoral Council (CNE) President Tibisay Lucena during a ceremony to mark the opening of the judicial year at the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ), in Caracas, Venezuela, January 24, 2019. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins/File Photo

A third source close to the Russian contractors also told Reuters there was a contingent of them in Venezuela, but could not say when they arrived or what their role was.

Russia, which has backed Maduro’s socialist government to the tune of billions of dollars, this week promised to stand by him after opposition leader Juan Guaido declared himself president with Washington’s endorsement.

It was the latest international crisis to split the global superpowers, with the United States and Europe backing Guaido, and Russia and China urging non-interference.

Yevgeny Shabayev, leader of a local chapter of a paramilitary group of Cossacks with ties to Russian military contractors, said he had heard the number of Russian contractors in Venezuela may be about 400.

But the other sources spoke of small groups.

Russia’s Defence Ministry and Venezuela’s Information Ministry did not respond to requests for comment about the contractors. But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “We have no such information.”

The contractors are associated with the so-called Wagner group whose members, mostly ex-service personnel, fought clandestinely in support of Russian forces in Syria and Ukraine, according to Reuters interviews with dozens of contractors, their friends and relatives.

A person believed to work for the Wagner group did not respond to a message asking for information.

Citing contacts in a Russian state security structure, Shabayev said the contingent flew to Venezuela at the start of this week, a day or two before opposition protests started.

CUBA CONNECTION?

He said they set off in two chartered aircraft for Havana, Cuba, from where they transferred onto regular commercial flights to Venezuela. The Cuban government, a close ally of Venezuela’s ruling socialists for the last two decades, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The contractors’ task in Venezuela was to protect Maduro from any attempt by opposition sympathizers in his own security forces to detain him, Shabayev said.

“Our people are there directly for his protection,” he said.

Venezuelan authorities said they had put down an attempted revolt on Monday by rogue military officers about a kilometer from the presidential palace in Caracas.

Maduro, the 56-year-old successor to Hugo Chavez, only takes to the streets in carefully-controlled situations, since crowds have barracked him in the past.

One of the two anonymous Russian sources, who is close to the Wagner group and fought in foreign conflicts where it was active, said the contractors first arrived in advance of the May 2018 presidential election, but another group arrived “recently.”

Asked if the deployment was linked to protecting Maduro, the source said: “It’s directly connected.” The contractors flew to Venezuela not from Moscow but from third countries where they were conducting missions, he added.

The third source, who is close to the private military contractors, said there was a contingent in Venezuela but he could not provide further details.

“They did not arrive in a big crowd,” he said.

Publicly-available flight-tracking data has shown a number of Russian government aircraft landing in or near Venezuela over past weeks, though there was no evidence the flights were connected to military contractors.

A Russian Ilyushin-96 flew into Havana late on Wednesday after starting its journey in Moscow and flying via Senegal and Paraguay, the data showed.

The aircraft, a civilian jet, is owned by a division of the Russian presidential administration, according to a publicly-available procurement contract relating to the plane.

Between Dec. 10 and Dec. 14 last year, an Antonov-124 heavy cargo aircraft, and an Ilyushin-76 transport aircraft, carried out flights between Russia and Caracas, flight-tracking data showed. Another Ilyushin-76 was in Caracas from Dec. 12 to Dec. 21 last year. All three aircraft belong to the Russian air force, according to the tracking data. </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> Russia extended its criticism of the U.S. stance on Venezuela on Tuesday, describing the latest sanctions against the government of President Nicolás Maduro as illegitimate, even as the Russian Finance Ministry acknowledged that its loans to Caracas were at risk because of the crisis.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said the new U.S. measures blocking all U.S. revenue from Venezuela’s national oil company were the latest example of Washington using economic sanctions to further U.S. commercial interests. The Kremlin has leveled similar criticism against U.S. sanctions on Iran and Ukraine.

“You know the consistent attitude of Moscow toward such actions, which our American colleagues are taking more and more frequently,” Peskov said. “We believe that in most cases, this is an instance of unfair competition.”

Maduro is a key ally of Russia in Venezuela, giving Moscow a geopolitical foothold a three-hour flight from Miami. Russia has extended billions of dollars in loans to Venezuela and in December dispatched nuclear-capable bombers to the country in a show of force.

But it is far from clear that Russia’s influence in the country will be enough to keep Maduro in power. Russian officials have continued to insist that Maduro is Venezuela’s legitimate president and offered to mediate, along with Iran, among “responsible political forces” in the country. But they have not offered details about any specific new help that Russia would be willing to provide to Maduro.

Instead, Russia’s Finance Ministry acknowledged Tuesday that Venezuela’s loan repayments to Moscow may run into some head winds. Deputy Russian Finance Minister Sergei Storchak said it is not clear whether a $100 million payment due from Venezuela in March will arrive on time.

“There will probably be some problems,” Storchak told reporters, according to the Interfax news agency. “It'll all depend on the army, on the servicemen, how loyal they prove to be.”

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Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news </s> A military helicopter training facility, constructed by Russia’s Rosoboronexport, was revealed in Venezuela Friday, several days after Moscow deployed troops and equipment to the crisis-stricken South American country, reported TASS News.

The statement added that the training facility had opened earlier in the week "with Russian and Venezuelan specialists participating."

“At present, Russian helicopters supplied to Venezuela not only take part in operations against smugglers, but also successfully perform aerial survey of wildfires, take part in rescue and evacuation missions in areas hit by natural disasters and deliver humanitarian cargo to remote regions of the country,” Rosoboronexport added.

A source within Venezuela’s Army Aviation told TASS that the facility would make the training process more efficient for future helicopter pilots and crews.

Rosoboronexport will supply Russian-made Mi-35M multi-role combat attack helicopters for missions related to targeting illicit drug production facilities, the source said.

"One Mi-35M2 helicopter is capable of delivering a special group of five or six officers, providing fire support if necessary and evacuating the team after the task is fulfilled," the source said.

The announcement came several days after Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced the build-up of Russian troops and equipment in the country.

The Trump administration condemned President Maduro on Friday for what it said was his cozy relationship with Moscow.

President Trump’s national security adviser John Bolton and U.S. special envoy for Venezuela Elliott Abrams said Russia's presence in the country is extremely destabilizing for the Western Hemisphere.

"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," the national security adviser said in a statement.

Russia responded over the weekend by indicating it had sent military personnel to the Latin American country based on a military-technical cooperation agreement from 2001.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said approximately 100 troops have been sent to the country "for as long as needed."

Russia and China both support the Maduro regime. President Maduro has said," American imperialists want to kill me."

Moscow has recently accused Washington of engineering a violent coup in Venezuela in violation of the United Nations Charter. </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> 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> The US and Russia clashed publicly over Venezuela on Monday, raising geopolitical stakes over the oil-producing nation after Moscow sent dozens of soldiers to Caracas amid what it alleged was a budding “coup.”

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned his counterpart Sergei Lavrov over the phone that “the United States and regional countries will not stand idly by as Russia exacerbates tensions in Venezuela.”

The tense conversation came after Russia sent two planes reportedly carrying around 100 soldiers and 35 tons of military equipment to Venezuela’s main airport outside Caracas on Saturday.

One independent Venezuelan journalist, Javier Mayorca, reported that the deployment also included General Vasily Tonkoshkurov, a top official who heads the Mobilization Directorate of Russia’s armed forces.

Although Russian state news agency Sputnik described the troop arrival as a movement to “fulfill technical military contracts,” the development unsettled Washington, which has thrown its weight behind opposition leader Juan Guaido as interim president against President Nicolas Maduro.

“The continued insertion of Russian military personnel to support the illegitimate regime of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela risks prolonging the suffering of the Venezuelan people who overwhelmingly support interim President Juan Guaido,” Pompeo said, according to his office.

Lavrov said in a statement he had complained of “attempts by Washington to organise a coup d’etat in Venezuela” during his conversation with Pompeo.

Such moves “constitute violations of the UN charter and undisguised interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state,” it said.

Russia and China are the main allies of Venezuela. Both have lent billions of dollars to the oil-rich South American country, propping up Maduro’s cash-strapped government.

Russia previously signaled its support for Maduro by sending two Tu-160 bombers to Venezuela last December to take part in a military exercise.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has a record of ordering his military — or paramilitary — forces into several theaters to challenge US strategies, notably in Syria and Ukraine.

US moves against Caracas have ratcheted up in recent weeks, with President Donald Trump warning that “all options” — implicitly including US military intervention — were being considered.

Maduro on Saturday accused Washington of using frozen Venezuelan funds to bankroll a plot to assassinate him.

“We have dismantled a plan organized personally by the diabolical puppet to kill me,” Maduro told thousands of supporters in Caracas, referring to Guaido.

His government gave details of the alleged plot on state television, with Information Minister Jorge Rodriguez saying “hitmen” from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras had been recruited “using big sums of money” and sent to Colombia ahead of missions into Venezuela to carry out “targeted assassinations” and “sabotage.”

Rodriguez accused Guaido’s chief of staff, Roberto Marrero, of receiving money from the United States and being a key organizer of the alleged operation.

Marrero, a 49-year-old lawyer, was arrested on Thursday in his Caracas home, triggering an outcry and demands that he be immediately released by the US, the European Union and major Latin American countries that recognize Guaido as Venezuela’s interim president.

Rodriguez played recordings he said were from WhatsApp conversations between Marrero and Guaido in which he said they discussed using Venezuelan funds blocked by US sanctions to finance armed groups with the support of Colombian President Ivan Duque.

The accusations were repeated shortly afterward by Maduro as he addressed a crowd of thousands of supporters in the capital.

According to his government, the United States has seized $30 billion is Venezuelan assets, including money in bank accounts. </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.
Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov denies the presence of Russian mercenaries in Venezuela, despite earlier reports that up to 100 may have been deployed to protect President Nicolás Maduro.