The mysterious flights from Moscow to Caracas came back: two air force planes arrived with Russian personnel

A cargo plane Antonov An-124 and a pbadenger plane Ilyushin Il-62, both belonging to the Russian Air Force, have mysteriously arrived Saturday at the Maiquetía International Airport in Venezuela, would have brought the head of the Russian armyAs reported by the newspaper specialized in defense webinfomil.com and the local press.

Deployment comes in the middle of youa strong political conflict in the country between the acting president appointed by the National Assembly, Juan Guaidó, and the Venezuelan leader and leader of the Chavista regime, Nicolás Maduro, which has one of its most important allies in Moscow.

According to the Colombian portal webinfomil.com, the two transport planes They probably left Moscow and stopped in Damascus, Syria, and Dakar, Senegal, before crossing the Atlantic Ocean and landing on the outskirts of Caracas., a journey of 10,000 kilometers.

The Antonov An-124 is one of the largest cargo aircraft in the world and entered service in 1986. It can carry a maximum of 150 tons of cargo, at a cruising speed of 800 km / h and a range of 5200 km.

In as much Iliyushin Il-62 It is a medium-sized commercial aircraft whose first version flew in 1967. It can carry a maximum of 186 pbadengers at a speed of 900 km / h and a range of 10,000 km.

During your previous visit, in December, these vessels They took the technical staff and equipment needed to maintain the Tu-160, according to the Russian agency Sputnik. In this way, his arrival on Monday could anticipate a new deployment of nuclear bombers, already announced but without a fixed date by the Kremlin, which aims to establish a permanent presence of these aircraft in Venezuela.

In addition, planes they could be in the country providing humanitarian aid like the one that Moscow and Maduro announced that they would arrive, in opposition to humanitarian aid of American origin that Guaidó tried to enter, without success in Venezuela.

The social and economic situation of the country is seriously deteriorated, with enormous problems Declining GDP, shortages, rising hyperinflation and collapse of some utilities. However, Maduro had said that shipments would arrive in Venezuela next week.

According to Venezuelan journalist Javier I. Mayorca, newspapers Runrunes and As such, the Il-62 brought to Caracas a delegation of 99 Russian soldiers led by the Russian army commander, Major General Vasilly Tonkoshkurov. This information was also reported by L & # 39; s universal.

In both An-124 came 35 tons of contingent materialwithout further details, Mayorca said.

The international community is divided by the Venezuelan crisis. For the moment, Guaidó, elected by the National Assembly, has the legitimacy of the parliamentarians elected during the last totally free elections organized in the country in 2015.He has been recognized Venezuelan President by the United States, Canada, Europe and most Latin American countries.

Although the strategies of these countries to support the Leader of the Opposition are different, it goes from military humanitarian intervention to diplomatic pressure.

Meanwhile, President Maduro, reelected in 2018 in disputed elections by the persecution of opposition candidates, low turnout and the lack of minimum guarantees, is supported by Russia, China, Cuba, Iran and Turkey, among others.

With regard to Havana and Moscowú They proved to be the closest allies and faithful to the Chavist regime.

In the case of Russia, this has led to an increase in air traffic between Moscow and Caracas while few airlines dare to visit Venezuela because of the political crisis, insecurity and high rates of homicides and kidnappings in the country, which threaten the safety of foreign crews .