The mystery of the Russian commercial plane that landed empty in the night of Caracas

Norwind Airlines is a Russian airline based in Moscow, usually dedicated to covering tourist routes to destinations in the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean. It does not offer flights to Venezuela.

However, a Boeing 777-200ER, registered VP-BJG, of the company landed Monday at 20:53 (local time) at Maiquetía Airport, in the suburbs of Caracas, according to the monitoring site Radar flight 24

He was coming from the airport of Vnukovo, outside of Moscow, and little is known about the mysterious plane, whose appearance caused a wave of reactions among Venezuelans while The country is going through moments of extreme tension after the proclamation of Juan Guaidó as interim president of Venezuela, in defiance of Nicolás Maduro's regime.

Russia, in particular, remained a faithful ally of the Chavez government, a trading partner of interest to the oil sector and refused to recognize Guaidó, a position shared by China, Turkey and Iran, among others.

While Brazil, Colombia, Argentina and Chile, among other Latin American countries, and the United States and Canada mobilized to recognize the interim president elected to the country. 39, National Assembly.. Europe has also demonstrated in favor of Guaidó, baduring that he will recognize his opponent if, in 8 days, Maduro does not call for free elections.

In this context, the arrival of the aircraft from Nordwind, an airline that usually also carries charter flights, is contracted to cover exceptional connections once, raised a lot of suspicions.

Venezuelan journalist Rafael Poleo said on his Twitter account that the aircraft, with a capacity of 500 people, had come empty with the intention of bringing together Chavista government members and with a double crew, which would allow him to take off quickly if necessary. At the time, the plane was still on the ground in Caracas.

In social networks According to unconfirmed information, the Boeing 777 was parked just off the ramp. 4, intended for the presidential plane.

From Russia, the newspaper Novaya Gazeta also reported that the Boeing 777, flight number N49801, he had flown without pbadengers and that plane had never flown to Venezuela, Although Nordwind has already been to this country twice in December 2018, both charter flights.

Novaya Gazeta He also indicated that the aircraft was operated by two complete crews and He had refueled shortly after landing in Caracas, ready to take off.

Former Ukrainian diplomat Bohdan Yaremenko told the press Novaya Gazeta What Nordwind, and more specifically the Boeing 777 VP-BJG, had flown to Crimea airports subject to international sanctions, in the midst of crisis that Russia and Ukraine are facing since 2014, after Moscow had ordered to annex this peninsula.