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On March 27, speaking in the White House, US President Donald Trump said that Russia must get out of Venezuela and warned that “all options are open” in order to achieve this goal.
Around 100 Russian troops touched down in Caracas on March 23 under the terms of a 2001 cooperation treaty between the two states. The move caused a wave of rumors in the mainstream media. Most of them about Russian special forces and a possible Russian military involvement in the event of the US invasion.
US Vice President Mike Pence described the deployment an “unnecessary provocation.” Pence also called on Moscow to withdraw its support of Venezuelan President Maduro and “stand with Juan Guaido,” the Washington-proclaimed interim president of the country.
Trump’s Security Adviser John Bolton was more hostile in his remarks.
The United States will not tolerate hostile foreign military powers meddling with the Western Hemisphere’s shared goals of democracy, security, and the rule of law. The Venezuelan military must stand with the people of Venezuela.
— John Bolton (@AmbJohnBolton) March 25, 2019
In own turn, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that the deployment was carried out “in strict accordance with the constitution of that country and with full respect for its legal norms.”
This situation is another example how the US is openly meddling into Venezuelan internal affairs claiming that this is a move to defend democracyi.
