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Russian military contractors visited Venezuela a few days ago to strengthen Nicolás Maduro's security against opposition protests, Reuters reported. The agency, citing several sources, indicates that the mercenaries are members of the so-called Wagner group, a dark Kremlin-related private security company, already present in countries like Ukraine, Syria, Sudan or the Central African Republic. . surveys. Maduro Venezuela is a valuable ally for Russia, which has backed its regime with billions of aid, agreements and loans in recent years.
After the self-proclamation of Juan Guaidó as interim president of Venezuela, which has received support from several countries, including the United States, Moscow has firmly defended Maduro to expel from power could cause a catastrophe and a "bloodshed".
In Russia, the figure of the mercenary is illegal: fights abroad are punishable by up to 16 years imprisonment. As they do not exist in theory, they can not, for example, collect a pension. And the Kremlin has never recognized the existence of these "secret soldiers" nor their own links with Wagner. This week, however, he said private "instructors" are working in Sudan because it is legal to give advice.
Yevgeni Shabaiev – a former military leader of the Russian military trade union committee, who advocated the regularization of the situation of mercenaries returning to Russia – said that two flights charter They traveled from Russia to Cuba to visit Venezuela earlier this week.
Shabaiev, a Cossack activist, said that according to his estimates and his conversations with members of the paramilitary family, about 400 mercenaries would have gone to this Latin American country. "They are there to offer direct protection [a Maduro]"He said.
The Russian government declined to comment on the Reuters exclusivity revealed on Friday. In fact, he never acknowledged that Wagner's paramilitaries were operating on the frontlines during fighting overseas. However, journalistic investigations have revealed that some 3,000 mercenaries have joined the ranks of this organization, including many former retired soldiers. They have been identified as fighting in Syria and the Donbbad, with pro-Russian separatists, for example.
Despite everything, Wagner is still surrounded by a halo of great secrecy. Its ramifications reach the Kremlin: its founder is Dmitry Utkin, who was an officer (decorated by Putin) of Russian military intelligence (GRU), according to the newspaper's investigations. Fontanka. US intelligence, however, believes that the man behind the paramilitary group is Evgueni Prigozhin, a St. Petersburg entrepreneur who supplies ready meals. Putin's leader. The oligarch is also linked to the factory of the trolls who sought to influence the presidential elections in the United States.
Several badysts who have investigated the security company note that the deployment of secret soldiers The Kremlin's strategy is to send forces to places where it can not officially be. Wagner and his ties to power are also in the spotlight following the murder, on July 31, of three Russian journalists investigating the presence of mercenaries of this company in the Central African Republic.
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