Crisis in Venezuela: what is Putin playing with his support for Maduro

PARIS.-

Venezuela

will become the epicenter of a new geopolitical crisis between the United States and the

Russia

, like the Cuban Rocket Crisis in 1962? In any case, the tension between the two countries has increased in recent days with the
the intensification of clashes in Venezuela, accompanied by a significant increase in Russian military badistance to the regime of

Nicolás Maduro

. The recent statements of the North American Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, only confirm this statement.

"According to our information,
there was a plane ready to take off [hacia Cuba]. The Russians convinced him to stay, "said Mike Pompeo to CNN, adding that Maduro was planning to take refuge in Havana.

In the main European capitals and at NATO Headquarters (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) in Brussels, the red lights were on when it was learned that on March 23, two Russian planes had arrived at the airport. 39 Simón Bolívar Airport of Maiquetía (Vargas State), which carried 99 soldiers, commanded by Major General Vasilly Tonkoshkurov.

The aircraft, an Antonov 124 and Ilyushin Il-62, also carried 35 tons of equipment. Moscow badured that it was a "technical badistance" project. But the United States has ensured that the Russian army – the rocket specialists – was tasked with putting the S-300 surface-to-air missiles, in good working order, affected by the gigantic power outage recorded between the 7 th and March 14th. .

The arrival of this military contingent provoked agitation and irritation in the United States. The first to react was the president

Donald Trump

, who intimidated the Kremlin to leave the country, to "respect" and not to intervene in Washington's relations with Caracas. Kremlin spokesman Dimitri Peskov confirmed the dispatch of "specialists" charged with the execution of contracts signed in 2011 with Caracas, but downplayed the importance of this episode.

In response to North American reactions, Russia responded that it had no military contingents or was conducting military operations in Venezuela. "There is no military contingent, and therefore the claims that Russia is conducting military operations in Venezuela are totally unfounded," the spokesman said. Russia, Maria Zajarova. "Attempts to intimidate Moscow with sanctions for its legitimate cooperation with Venezuela seem absurd," he added.

The increase in the Russian military presence in Venezuela is not considered a minor episode by European chancelleries and NATO specialists. The arrival of aircraft with missile technicians is not an isolated episode. Western governments are in a state of alert after the recent inauguration of a training center for Russian military pilots Mi-17V-5, Mi-35M and Mi-26T.

The Maduro regime is also building a Kalashnikov-type machine gun factory and a Russian missile factory.

Also since January, unverifiable versions of the presence of Russian mercenaries of the militia Wagner, an independent private force operating in the missions, circulate.
unsanctified"With the tacit agreement of the Kremlin, the Russian ambbadador, Vladimir Zaiemski, denied this information, saying that it was a" farce "." But some hours later, ex-veteran Evgueni Chabaiev, who heads a group of "war dogs" of Cossack origin, confirmed to the French newspaper Le Monde.

The famous Wagners allegedly took charge of high-ranking officials of the Chavez government, especially Maduro, and at the same time worked to train a 400-member Praetorian Guard in charge of the security of key government officials in the event of conspiracy. . or military invasion of the country.

Since the Cold War, while the Soviet Union had close relations with Cuba and its warships, it was forbidden to go through the Panama Cbad, which was under the sovereignty of the United States, and Moscow seemed to be in danger. Be distant from the hemisphere. The only warships that had ever crossed the Panama Cbad were four submarines in 1944, while Washington and Moscow were allies in the war against Nazi Germany.

But things have changed since the arrival of

Hugo Chavez

in power and its approach with Cuba. Since then, Russia has become Venezuela's main arms supplier.

The current Kremlin policy in Venezuela is similar to the strategy of the USSR in Nicaragua in the 1980s. Moscow has provided economic and military aid to the Sandinista and pro-Cuban government that the "Contra", the only one in the world. counter-revolutionary army financed by the United States, was trying to overthrow.

"The improvisation and the surprise effect characterize the current Russian model of destabilization," says Gleb Pavlovsky, a Russian political scientist and historian. Is Russia expected in Ukraine? He appears in Syria! You suspect a new action in Syria? It reappears in the Central African Republic or Venezuela.

This is a strategy known as "flanking politics", which consists of not attacking the adversary head-on, but flanking them, taking minimal risk.

"Thus, according to Pavlovsky, Russia gives the impression of being everywhere, although this omnipresence does not correspond to reality."