US cautions Russia over military mission in Venezuela

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has told the Russian foreign minister that Russia's dispatch of military personnel to Venezuela is increasing tensions there.

U.S. State Department spokesman Robert Palladino says Pompeo called Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday and said "the United States and regional countries will not stand idly by" while Russia takes steps to support its ally, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Pompeo's call came after a Venezuelan official said Russian aircraft arrived in Caracas this weekend as part of ongoing military cooperation. Reports that two Russian air force planes arrived could not be independently confirmed.

The U.S. and dozens of other countries support Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, who says Maduro's re-election last year was rigged. Maduro alleges the U.S. and Guaido are plotting a coup.</s>US cautions Russia over military mission in Venezuela

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has told the Russian foreign minister that Russia's dispatch of military personnel to Venezuela is increasing tensions there.

U.S. State Department spokesman Robert Palladino says Pompeo called Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday and said "the United States and regional countries will not stand idly by" while Russia takes steps to support its ally, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Pompeo's call came after a Venezuelan official said Russian aircraft arrived in Caracas this weekend as part of ongoing military cooperation. Reports that two Russian air force planes arrived could not be independently confirmed.

The U.S. and dozens of other countries support Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, who says Maduro's re-election last year was rigged. Maduro alleges the U.S. and Guaido are plotting a coup.</s>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told his Russian counterpart on Monday Washington would “not stand idly by” while Russia throws its weight behind Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, after two Russian air force planes with scores of troops reportedly landed in the OPEC nation.

The Russian planes and nearly 100 military personnel arrived outside the Venezuelan capital Caracas on Saturday, according to local media reports.. If confirmed, the arrival could underscore a strengthening of ties between Moscow and Maduro’s embattled socialist government.

Pompeo spoke to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov about Venezuela on Monday, State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said in a statement.

The statement did not specifically mention reports about the Russian planes but condemned any Russian military support for the “illegitimate regime of Nicolas Maduro.”

“The secretary called on Russia to cease its unconstructive behaviour,” Palladino said in a statement.

During the call with Lavrov, Pompeo urged Moscow to join the United States and regional countries in backing opposition leader Juan Guaido.

“Ridiculous. ‘Unconstructive behaviour’ is stealing Venezuela’s resources and using them to finance corrupt terrorists like Guaido,” Venezuelan Foreign Ministry official William Castillo wrote on Twitter.

Bloomberg news, citing an unnamed Venezuelan information ministry official, reported that the landing of the Russian air force planes was in line with long-term Russia-Venezuela military accords. The purpose of the visit was to perform maintenance on Russian military equipment that Venezuela had purchased, Bloomberg reported.

The information ministry did not respond to requests for comment on the presence of the planes or the Bloomberg report.

The United States believes up to 100 Russian military personnel may have disembarked but it was unclear how many of them might have stayed and how many returned to the aircraft, according to a U.S. official who asked not to be identified. The official declined to speculate about their purpose in Venezuela.

“#Russia is deploying military personnel in (the western) . Hemisphere in #Venezuela,” wrote U.S. Senator Marco Rubio on Twitter. “This is a direct challenge to our national interest & poses a direct threat to our national security.”

Russia has warned the United States and neighbours against a military intervention in Venezuela.

U.S. President Donald Trump said in 2017 that the “military option” was on the table when it comes to Venezuela, but administration officials have since downplayed talk of armed intervention.

The Trump administration has imposed crippling sanctions on Venezuela’s crucial oil industry. On Friday it sanctioned its development bank, Bandes, in efforts to choke off financial flows to Maduro’s government and called on Venezuelan military leaders to abandon him.

Maduro has denounced the sanctions as U.S. intervention and maintains diplomatic backing from Russia, China and Cuba.</s>Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Thousands attended a rally in Caracas on Wednesday against President Maduro

Russia has condemned foreign powers for backing a Venezuelan opposition leader who declared himself interim president, calling it a bid to "usurp power".

Moscow said that the move violated international law and was a "direct path to bloodshed".

Juan Guaidó declared himself interim leader on Wednesday - a move recognised by the US and several other nations.

President Nicolás Maduro, who retains some other nations' support, broke off relations with the US in response.

Mr Maduro has been in office since 2013. He was sworn in for a second term earlier this month, after winning a May 2018 election marred by an opposition boycott and widespread claims of vote-rigging.

Mr Guaidó is the head of the National Assembly. He has said articles within the country's constitution allow him to assume interim power because he believes Mr Maduro's election, and therefore presidency, is invalid.

He has vowed to lead a transitional government and hold free elections.

How has the diplomatic spat flared?

US President Donald Trump recognised Mr Guaidó as Venezuela's new head of state minutes after his declaration in the capital, Caracas, on Wednesday.

Mr Trump urged other nations to follow suit - but the move has divided much of the international community.

Seven South American nations, as well as Canada and the UK, have now backed his call.

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said on Thursday that the UK agreed that Mr Maduro was "not the legitimate leader of Venezuela".

"The United Kingdom believes Juan Guaidó is the right person to take Venezuela forward," he said in a statement.

The European Union has stopped short of recognition, but called for "free and credible elections" and said Mr Guaidó's freedom and safety should be respected.

Image copyright AFP Image caption Venezuela's defence minister has backed Mr Maduro at a news conference

Mexico, Bolivia and Cuba all expressed support for Mr Maduro, while Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan tweeted: "My brother Maduro! Stand tall, we are standing by you."

China, a major investor in Venezuela, said it opposed any outside interference.

Why was Russia so outspoken?

Moscow sees Venezuela as one of its closest allies in the region. It has lent billions of dollars and has backed its oil industry and its military. Russia has also taken part in military exercises in Venezuela.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "We consider the attempt to usurp sovereign authority in Venezuela to contradict and violate the basis and principles of international law.

"Maduro is the legitimate head of state."

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption What drives someone to cross South America on foot?

A Russian foreign ministry statement said Mr Guaidó's declaration was a "direct path to lawlessness and bloodshed", adding: "Only Venezuelans have the right to determine their future.

"Destructive outside interference, especially in the current extremely tense situation, is unacceptable."

Russia also warned that any US military interference would amount to "adventurism which is fraught with catastrophic consequences".

What did Mr Trump say?

He was asked about military intervention and while he said he was not considering it, he added that "all options are on the table".

In a statement, he described Mr Maduro's leadership as "illegitimate", adding: "The people of Venezuela have courageously spoken out against Maduro and his regime and demanded freedom and the rule of law."

It warned Mr Maduro tougher sanctions could be imposed.

The US has urged the Venezuelan military to back Mr Guaidó, but so far it has remained loyal to Mr Maduro.

What was President Maduro's response?

He accused Washington of trying to govern Venezuela from afar and said the opposition was seeking to stage a coup.

Image copyright AFP Image caption Nicolás Maduro rallied supporters at the presidential palace

"We've had enough interventionism, here we have dignity, damn it!" he said in a televised address from the presidential palace, the Miraflores, where his supporters gathered to back him on Wednesday.

The country's Defence Minister, Vladimir Padrino Lopez, has accused Mr Guaidó of trying to launch a "coup d'etat" driven by foreign powers.

Speaking at a news conference flanked by senior military figures, he said the declaration went "against democracy, against our constitution, against the President Nicolas Maduro: the legitimate president."

On Wednesday Mr Maduro gave US diplomats 72 hours to leave the country, but the US said the "former president" no longer had the authority to order them out.

Mr Maduro and his core supporters believe Venezuela's problems are caused by US sanctions that have hampered the government by making it hard to restructure its debt.

The annual inflation rate reached 1,300,000% in the 12 months to November 2018, according to a study by the National Assembly.

How did Mr Guaidó's declaration come about?

Mr Guaidó became president of the opposition-controlled National Assembly this month.

The opposition took power there after elections in 2015, but in 2017 Mr Maduro set up a separate body, the constituent assembly, which is filled with his supporters.

Both chambers are meeting and passing laws but the constituent assembly is the only one whose laws are being enacted by the government.

Tens of thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets to rally in support of Mr Guaidó on Wednesday - while others demonstrated in favour of Mr Maduro.

Mr Guaidó has cited articles 233 and 333 of the constitution which allow him to assume interim power in the absence of the president. He argues Mr Maduro is not president because the elections are invalid.

Venezuelan NGOs said that 14 people were shot dead during protests on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The country has been in economic freefall under Mr Maduro. Hyperinflation, power cuts and shortages of basic items have driven millions of people from the country.

Are you in Venezuela? What has life been like in the country? Tell us your story by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk

Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also contact us in the following ways:</s>The US and Russia clashed publicly over Venezuela on Monday, raising geopolitical stakes over the oil-producing nation after Moscow sent dozens of soldiers to Caracas amid what it alleged was a budding “coup.”

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned his counterpart Sergei Lavrov over the phone that “the United States and regional countries will not stand idly by as Russia exacerbates tensions in Venezuela.”

The tense conversation came after Russia sent two planes reportedly carrying around 100 soldiers and 35 tons of military equipment to Venezuela’s main airport outside Caracas on Saturday.

One independent Venezuelan journalist, Javier Mayorca, reported that the deployment also included General Vasily Tonkoshkurov, a top official who heads the Mobilization Directorate of Russia’s armed forces.

Although Russian state news agency Sputnik described the troop arrival as a movement to “fulfill technical military contracts,” the development unsettled Washington, which has thrown its weight behind opposition leader Juan Guaido as interim president against President Nicolas Maduro.

“The continued insertion of Russian military personnel to support the illegitimate regime of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela risks prolonging the suffering of the Venezuelan people who overwhelmingly support interim President Juan Guaido,” Pompeo said, according to his office.

Lavrov said in a statement he had complained of “attempts by Washington to organise a coup d’etat in Venezuela” during his conversation with Pompeo.

Such moves “constitute violations of the UN charter and undisguised interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state,” it said.

Russia and China are the main allies of Venezuela. Both have lent billions of dollars to the oil-rich South American country, propping up Maduro’s cash-strapped government.

Russia previously signaled its support for Maduro by sending two Tu-160 bombers to Venezuela last December to take part in a military exercise.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has a record of ordering his military — or paramilitary — forces into several theaters to challenge US strategies, notably in Syria and Ukraine.

US moves against Caracas have ratcheted up in recent weeks, with President Donald Trump warning that “all options” — implicitly including US military intervention — were being considered.

Maduro on Saturday accused Washington of using frozen Venezuelan funds to bankroll a plot to assassinate him.

“We have dismantled a plan organized personally by the diabolical puppet to kill me,” Maduro told thousands of supporters in Caracas, referring to Guaido.

His government gave details of the alleged plot on state television, with Information Minister Jorge Rodriguez saying “hitmen” from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras had been recruited “using big sums of money” and sent to Colombia ahead of missions into Venezuela to carry out “targeted assassinations” and “sabotage.”

Rodriguez accused Guaido’s chief of staff, Roberto Marrero, of receiving money from the United States and being a key organizer of the alleged operation.

Marrero, a 49-year-old lawyer, was arrested on Thursday in his Caracas home, triggering an outcry and demands that he be immediately released by the US, the European Union and major Latin American countries that recognize Guaido as Venezuela’s interim president.

Rodriguez played recordings he said were from WhatsApp conversations between Marrero and Guaido in which he said they discussed using Venezuelan funds blocked by US sanctions to finance armed groups with the support of Colombian President Ivan Duque.

The accusations were repeated shortly afterward by Maduro as he addressed a crowd of thousands of supporters in the capital.

According to his government, the United States has seized $30 billion is Venezuelan assets, including money in bank accounts.</s>CARACAS, Venezuela — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has told the Russian foreign minister that Russia's dispatch of military personnel to Venezuela is increasing tensions there.

U.S. State Department spokesman Robert Palladino says Pompeo called Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday and said "the United States and regional countries will not stand idly by" while Russia takes steps to support its ally, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Pompeo's call came after a Venezuelan official said Russian aircraft arrived in Caracas this weekend as part of ongoing military cooperation. Reports that two Russian air force planes arrived could not be independently confirmed.

The U.S. and dozens of other countries support Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, who says Maduro's re-election last year was rigged. Maduro alleges the U.S. and Guaido are plotting a coup.</s>In a move that will incense Trump’s America, two Russian air force planes have landed at Venezuela’s main airport, carrying a Russian defense official and nearly 100 troops, as Caracas and Moscow strengthened relations.

A flight-tracking website showed that two planes left from a Russian military airport bound for Caracas on Friday, and another flight-tracking site showed that one plane left Caracas on Sunday.

That comes three months after the two nations held military exercises on Venezuelan soil that President Nicolas Maduro called a sign of strengthening relations, but which Washington criticized as Russian encroachment in the region.

Reporter Javier Mayorca wrote on Twitter on Saturday that the first plane carried Vasily Tonkoshkurov, chief of staff of the ground forces, adding the second was a cargo plane carrying 35 tonnes of material.

An Ilyushin IL-62 passenger jet and an Antonov AN-124 military cargo plane left for Caracas on Friday from Russian military airport Chkalovsky, stopping along the way in Syria, according to flight-tracking website Flightradar24.

The cargo plane left Caracas on Sunday afternoon, according to Adsbexchange, another flight-tracking site.

The flights carried officials who arrived to “exchange consultations,” wrote Russian government-owned news agency Sputnik, which quoted an unnamed source at the Russian embassy.

“Russia has various contracts that are in the process of being fulfilled, contracts of a technical military character,” Sputnik quoted the source as saying.

A Reuters witness saw what appeared to be the passenger jet at the Maiquetia airport on Sunday.

Venezuela’s Information Ministry did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Russia’s Defense Ministry and Foreign Ministry did not reply to messages seeking comment. The Kremlin spokesman also did not reply to a request for comment.

The Trump administration has levied crippling sanctions on the OPEC nation’s oil industry in efforts to push Maduro from power and has called on Venezuelan military leaders to abandon him. Maduro has denounced the sanctions as U.S. interventionism and has won diplomatic backing from Russia and China.

In December, two Russian strategic bomber aircraft capable of carrying nuclear weapons landed in Venezuela

in a show of support for Maduro’s socialist government that infuriated Washington.

Maduro on Wednesday said Russia would send medicine “next week” to Venezuela, without describing how it would arrive, adding that Moscow in February had sent some 300 tonnes of humanitarian aid.

Venezuela in February had blocked a convoy carrying humanitarian aid for the crisis-stricken country that was coordinated with the team of opposition leader Juan Guaido, including supplies provided by the United States, from entering via the border with Colombia.</s>Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov Monday accused the United States of plotting a "coup" against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, in a dispute over Russian military assistance for the crisis-hit country.

Lavrov said in a statement he had complained of "attempts by Washington to organise a coup d'etat in Venezuela" during a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

The statement said such moves "constitute violations of the UN charter and undisguised interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state".

Pompeo earlier warned Russia that the United States will not "stand idly by" as Moscow inserts military personnel into Venezuela to support Maduro, a State Department statement said.

Russian state news agency Sputnik reported Sunday that two Russian military planes delivered troops and equipment to Venezuela over the weekend.

Lavrov did not comment on that report.

Pompeo said Russian military reinforcements were prolonging the political crisis in the South American country.

Venezuela is rich in oil but has plunged into economic crisis, suffering hyperinflation and shortages of food and basic goods.

Washington and its allies support Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido and recognise his claim to be acting president in defiance of Maduro.

Socialist leader Maduro retains the support of Russia and China, US rivals who have offered him political and economic support.</s>CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has told the Russian foreign minister that Russia’s dispatch of military personnel to Venezuela is increasing tensions there.

U.S. State Department spokesman Robert Palladino says Pompeo called Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday and said “the United States and regional countries will not stand idly by” while Russia takes steps to support its ally, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Pompeo’s call came after a Venezuelan official said Russian aircraft arrived in Caracas this weekend as part of ongoing military cooperation. Reports that two Russian air force planes arrived could not be independently confirmed.

The U.S. and dozens of other countries support Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, who says Maduro’s re-election last year was rigged. Maduro alleges the U.S. and Guaido are plotting a coup.</s>US cautions Russia over military mission in Venezuela

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has told the Russian foreign minister that Russia's dispatch of military personnel to Venezuela is increasing tensions there.

U.S. State Department spokesman Robert Palladino says Pompeo called Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday and said "the United States and regional countries will not stand idly by" while Russia takes steps to support its ally, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Pompeo's call came after a Venezuelan official said Russian aircraft arrived in Caracas this weekend as part of ongoing military cooperation. Reports that two Russian air force planes arrived could not be independently confirmed.

The U.S. and dozens of other countries support Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, who says Maduro's re-election last year was rigged. Maduro alleges the U.S. and Guaido are plotting a coup.
Two Russian military planes, an Ilyushin Il-62 and an Antonov An-124, land at Simón Bolívar International Airport near Caracas, Venezuela, carrying senior Defence Ministry official Vasily Tonkoshkurov [ru], a large amount of equipment and about 100 troops. Russia, which three months earlier held joint military exercises on Venezuelan soil, condemned other countries for backing Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó against embattled President Nicolás Maduro.