Confirm that a Russian military mission has arrived in Venezuela

The mission comes in "compliance" with "Military technical contractsAccording to the Sputnik report, which quotes sources from the Russian Embbady in Caracas, it does not offer more details.

However, these sources told the Russian agency that the arrival of the aircraft had "nothing mysterious", as happens in the framework of signed agreements it many years ago.

AFP journalists had previously verified the presence of a Russian-flagged aircraft in the airport, located in about 40 minutes from the Venezuelan capital by road, with a strong guard of the contingents of the National Military Guard.

A Venezuelan official said yesterday that the planes had arrived in Caracas as part of the military cooperation between the two allies.

According to the local press, Russian military planes – a jet plane and a freighter – have transferred to Venezuela a hundred soldiers led by the general Vasily Tonkoshkurov, director of the mobilization of the high command of the armed forces of the European country.

El Nacional newspaper, published that "35 tons of materials"They arrived with the military mission.

Russia and China, main creditors of Venezuela's external debt (estimated at $ 150,000 million), were allied with Socialist President Nicolás Maduro in the face of growing international pressure to leave power.

The United States imposed financial sanctions against Venezuela and its national oil company PDVSA; and on April 28, a Washington embargo on Venezuelan oil exports will come into effect.

The administration of Donald Trump, who does not exclude "a military option"Before the Venezuelan crisis, is one of more than 50 governments that recognize the leader of the opposition Juan Guaidó, President of the Parliament, as president in charge of Venezuela.

The military collaboration between Caracas and Moscow has been strengthened since the beginning of Chavez with the purchase of military equipment and weapons.

Last December, Russia sent two TU160 bombers, a transport plane and a pbadenger plane to Venezuela to intervene in defense exercises launched by the Venezuelan armed forces.

This deployment fueled tensions in Caracas with the United States and neighboring Colombia. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo then dismissed the exercises, accusing Moscow and Caracas of being "two corrupt governments squandering public funds and repressing freedom." I