page_title: Foreign involvement in the Venezuelan presidential crisis
section_title: 2018
hierarchical_section_title: Foreign involvement in the Venezuelan presidential crisis / Russian presence / 2018
caption_attribution_description: Русский: Встреча с Президентом Венесуэлы Николасом Мадуро
context_page_description: During the 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis, AP News reported that "familiar geopolitical sides" had formed, with allies Russia, China, Iran, Turkey, Syria, and Cuba supporting Maduro, and the US, Canada, and most of Western Europe supporting Juan Guaidó as interim president. Amid widespread condemnation, President Maduro was sworn in on 10 January 2019, and the President of the National Assembly, Guaidó, was declared the interim President by that body on 23 January 2019. Intervention by the United States in Venezuela has been alleged by allies of Nicolás Maduro and political figures from the left spectrum; Maduro's government states that the crisis is a "coup d'état led by the United States to topple him and control the country's oil reserves." Guaidó denies the coup allegations, saying peaceful volunteers back his movement.
context_section_description: Reuters reported that Russian mercenaries associated with the Wagner Group were in Venezuela to defend Maduro's government. Professor Robert Ellis of the United States Army War College described 400 Wagner Group mercenaries provided by Russia as the "palace guard of Nicolás Maduro". Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied the deployment of Russian mercenaries, calling it "fake news".
  Two nuclear weapon-capable Russian planes landed in Venezuela in December 2018 in what Reuters called a "show of support for Maduro's socialist government".
caption: Russian president Putin meeting with Maduro in Brazil (2014)
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