Russian
specialists are in Venezuela as part of the 2001 military-technical
cooperation deal with Caracas that doesn’t need further approval,
Moscow said after reports of the arrival of two military planes with
troops and cargo.
Russia
develops its relations with Venezuela “in strict accordance with
the Constitution of this country and in full respect of its
legislation,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova
said.
The
existing deal was ratified by both Russia and Venezuela, and it
“doesn’t require any additional approval from the National
Assembly of Venezuela,” she pointed out.
Zakharova
was responding to a media request for comment over the alleged
Russian “meddling” into Venezuelan affairs.
Following
reports that two Russian military planes carrying around 100 troops
and cargo landed outside Caracas on Saturday, the Organization of
American States labeled it “a harmful act to Venezuelan
sovereignty,” while the US State Department insisted that it
was “a reckless escalation of the situation” in the
country.
US
National Security Adviser and one of the strongest backers of regime
change in Venezuela, John Bolton, was also outraged, writing on
Twitter that: “the US will not tolerate hostile foreign military
powers meddling with the Western Hemisphere’s shared goals of
democracy, security, and the rule of law.”
Washington
had recognized opposition leader, Juan Guaido, as the legitimate
president of Venezuela and even mulled the so-called “humanitarian
intervention” in order to remove the unwanted government of Nicolas
Maduro from power.
Zakharova
responded to Bolton by saying that his words prove that the US still
considers “Latin America an area of its exclusive interests; its
own ‘backyard’ and demands unquestionable obedience from it”
just like it was in the Colonial times under the infamous Monroe
Doctrine.
If the
Americans deny other countries access to the Western Hemisphere, it
begs the question “what are they themselves doing in Eastern
Hemisphere?” she wondered, referring to the heavy US military
presence in Europe and its involvement in ‘color revolutions’ in
former Soviet states and the Balkans.
“Perhaps,
they believe that the people of this part of the world will be
thankful when Washington willfully changes their leaders and kills
the unwanted ones. Or the US still believes that people are waiting
for the Americans to bring democracy to them on the wings of their
bombers. Ask Iraqis, Libyans or Serbs about it,” the
spokeswoman stated.
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