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> In a move that will incense Trump’s America, two Russian air force planes have landed at Venezuela’s main airport, carrying a Russian defense official and nearly 100 troops, as Caracas and Moscow strengthened relations.

A flight-tracking website showed that two planes left from a Russian military airport bound for Caracas on Friday, and another flight-tracking site showed that one plane left Caracas on Sunday.

That comes three months after the two nations held military exercises on Venezuelan soil that President Nicolas Maduro called a sign of strengthening relations, but which Washington criticized as Russian encroachment in the region.

Reporter Javier Mayorca wrote on Twitter on Saturday that the first plane carried Vasily Tonkoshkurov, chief of staff of the ground forces, adding the second was a cargo plane carrying 35 tonnes of material.

An Ilyushin IL-62 passenger jet and an Antonov AN-124 military cargo plane left for Caracas on Friday from Russian military airport Chkalovsky, stopping along the way in Syria, according to flight-tracking website Flightradar24.

The cargo plane left Caracas on Sunday afternoon, according to Adsbexchange, another flight-tracking site.

The flights carried officials who arrived to “exchange consultations,” wrote Russian government-owned news agency Sputnik, which quoted an unnamed source at the Russian embassy.

“Russia has various contracts that are in the process of being fulfilled, contracts of a technical military character,” Sputnik quoted the source as saying.

A Reuters witness saw what appeared to be the passenger jet at the Maiquetia airport on Sunday.

Venezuela’s Information Ministry did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Russia’s Defense Ministry and Foreign Ministry did not reply to messages seeking comment. The Kremlin spokesman also did not reply to a request for comment.

The Trump administration has levied crippling sanctions on the OPEC nation’s oil industry in efforts to push Maduro from power and has called on Venezuelan military leaders to abandon him. Maduro has denounced the sanctions as U.S. interventionism and has won diplomatic backing from Russia and China.

In December, two Russian strategic bomber aircraft capable of carrying nuclear weapons landed in Venezuela

in a show of support for Maduro’s socialist government that infuriated Washington.

Maduro on Wednesday said Russia would send medicine “next week” to Venezuela, without describing how it would arrive, adding that Moscow in February had sent some 300 tonnes of humanitarian aid.

Venezuela in February had blocked a convoy carrying humanitarian aid for the crisis-stricken country that was coordinated with the team of opposition leader Juan Guaido, including supplies provided by the United States, from entering via the border with Colombia. </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 has opened a centre to train military helicopter pilots in Venezuela in a further sign of Vladimir Putin’s support for Nicolas Maduro’s regime.

It comes days after Moscow sent two planes of military personnel and equipment to Venezuela.

Elliott Abrams, the U.S. envoy, said the U.S. believed the teams had been flown in to repair Soviet-era S300 missile systems, which were knocked out by a series of blackouts.

But he added that the U.S. was watching closely to see what the Russians did, adding: “We have options, and it would be a mistake for the Russians to think they have a free hand.”

Rosoboronexport, the state corporation for arms sales, stated it had built the centre under a contract with Venezuelan state-owned firearms manufacturer CAVIM.

Russian-made simulators will let local pilots practise flying helicopters that Moscow has supplied to Caracas.

 These include the Mil Mi-35M Hind, a gunship, the Mi-26T heavy transport helicopter and the Mi-17V-5, a transport helicopter that can be equipped with machine guns and rockets.

The centre, with Russian-trained staff, will cut the costs and time needed to train pilots, Rosoboronexport said.

 Russian organisations “remain committed to deepening cooperation with government agencies of Venezuela”, the statement said. Russian-made helicopters in Venezuela are participating in “routine military activities and operations against smugglers”, as well as delivery of humanitarian aid, it added, making no mention of clashes between security forces and protesters.

Rosoboronexport did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

At the opening ceremony for the helicopter centre on Friday, Vladimir Padrino Lopez, the Venezuelan defence minister, said a flight simulator for the Russian-made Su-30MK2 fighter jet would be installed in another city and a factory to produce Kalashnikov assault rifles under licence would open soon after years of delays.

More than 50 countries have recognized Juan Guaido, the opposition leader, as interim president after weeks of protests and shortages of food, water, medicine and electricity.
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Maduro is struggling to contain unrest in the country amid blackouts that began on March 7 and have led to subsequent failures in water systems.

In March, 99 Russian soldiers and 35 tons of equipment flew in to bolster Maduro’s military.

John Bolton, the U.S. national security adviser described it as a “direct threat to international peace and security”. Donald Trump has said he will “probably” speak to Putin and Xi Jinping, the Chinese president.

Yesterday, Alejandro Chacon, a Colombian congressman, said he received a letter from Russia’s ambassador in Bogota, warning Colombia against any military action against Maduro. </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> 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> 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> The United States Southern Command criticized Russia as it released images Sunday of a Venezuelan fighter jet it said "aggressively shadowed" a U.S. reconnaissance aircraft flying over the Caribbean last week.

Details: The Russian-made SU-30 Flanker approached the U.S. Navy EP-3 Aries II "at an unsafe distance" in international airspace and in an "unprofessional manner" on Friday, the United States Southern Command said in a statement.

The other side: Venezuela’s Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López said the American plane entered Venezuelan airspace without earlier notification, violating international rules and endangering commercial flights from the country’s main airport, according to the Washington Post.

The big picture: The incident comes amid a months-long power struggle between Maduro and Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó, who has the support of the U.S. — which has imposed sanctions on the country in an attempt to pressure Maduro to step down.
Two Russian military planes, an Ilyushin Il-62 and an Antonov An-124, land at Simón Bolívar International Airport near Caracas, Venezuela, carrying senior Defence Ministry official Vasily Tonkoshkurov [ru], a large amount of equipment and about 100 troops. Russia, which three months earlier held joint military exercises on Venezuelan soil, condemned other countries for backing Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó against embattled President Nicolás Maduro.