Venezuela has said that Russia may send more military personnel there as the United States seeks to overthrow the Latin American state's leftist-led government.
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza told a press conference Monday in Moscow that he and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov were working to promote "military-technical" ties between the two countries as the U.S. endorsed opposition leader Juan Guaidó's challenge to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Arreaza said that "a commission" of Russian specialists were already in Venezuela and their numbers "could be expanded, of course."
Arreaza also asserted his country was "ready for any scenario." He said Venezuela preferred the path of "diplomacy" and "peace," but would "be able to not only resist and fight, but to overcome and defeat any army, however powerful it may be," should the U.S. opt for force, as members of President Donald Trump's administration have warned was an option.
One such U.S. official who has warned "military action is possible" was Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who himself met with his Russian counterpart on Monday on the sidelines of the Arctic Council summit in Finland. Speaking to reporters on the flight there, Pompeo confirmed that the agenda for his talks with Lavrov included Venezuela, a major issue that has again divided the world's top two military powers.
Russia has recently deepened its bilateral ties with Venezuela, an oil-rich country whose spiral toward virtual economic collapse has been blamed on internal mismanagement by Maduro's socialist leadership and U.S. sanctions designed to pressure him into stepping down. About a month after Moscow send nuclear-capable bombers to conduct joint drills with Venezuela late last year, Guaidó declared himself acting president in a move swiftly backed by the U.S. and its allies.
Other nations, such as Russia, have continued to back Maduro, and Moscow has continued to send personnel to Caracas to fulfill agreements signed between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Maduro's predecessor, the late Hugo Chávez, who survived a 2002 coup attempt reportedly linked to the U.S. Last Tuesday, Maduro managed to weather a push to kick him out of office after Guaidó called for the military to defect. Only a small faction followed the call, leading to clashes between rival factions.
Later that day, Pompeo claimed that Maduro "had an airplane on the tarmac, he was ready to leave" to Cuba, but "the Russians indicated he should stay." Moscow dismissed this account and, following a telephone conversation Friday with Putin, Trump—who previously warned "the Russians have to get out" of Venezuela—appeared to strike a different tone, arguing that Putin is "not looking at all to get involved in Venezuela, other than he’d like to see something positive happen."
