Russia Defends Deployment in Venezuela After Trump's ‘Get Out’

(Bloomberg) -- Russia defended its deployment of military servicemen to Venezuela a day after U.S. President Donald Trump called on Moscow to “get out” of the Latin American country.

Russia “is not threatening anyone,” and its increased military presence in Venezuela does not change the balance of forces there, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a televised press briefing. The servicemen were sent as part of Russia’s agreements to supply weapons to Venezuela and will stay as long as needed, she said.

Russian troops won’t participate in any military operations, the official Tass news agency quoted Rafael Perez, a Venezuelan envoy in Moscow, as saying Thursday.

Tensions between the U.S. and Russia escalated over the weekend when a Russian Il-62 passenger jet and an An-124 military cargo plane carrying troops and equipment arrived at the international airport outside Caracas on Saturday. While the U.S. is trying to pressure President Nicolas Maduro to step down, Russia has continued to cultivate ties to the regime.

At a White House meeting Wednesday, Trump said Russia “needs to get out” of Venezuela. Moments before Trump spoke, Vice President Mike Pence called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to cease talks with Maduro and said Russia’s military move was “an unwelcome provocation.”

A Venezuelan Information Ministry official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he isn’t authorized to comment publicly, said the visit was to perform maintenance on Russian military equipment the nation had purchased.

Zakharova accused the U.S. of planning to use the island of Curacao as a base to intervene militarily in Venezuela under the guise of humanitarian aid. Russia delivered another shipment of civilian assistance to Venezuela this week, she said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Stepan Kravchenko in Moscow at skravchenko@bloomberg.net;Henry Meyer in Moscow at hmeyer4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Gregory L. White at gwhite64@bloomberg.net, Tony Halpin

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