On March 23, two planes of the Russian Aerospace Forces landed in Venezuela’s main airport carrying a Russian defense official and nearly 100 troops, according to reports in mainstream media and claims by local activists.
The planes were identified as An Ilyushin IL-62 passenger jet and an Antonov AN-124 military cargo plane. They left Moscow from Russian military airport Chkalovsky on March 22 and visited Syria en route to Venezuela.
According to speculations, the meintioned defense officials was Vasily Tonkoshkurov, chief of staff of the Ground Forces. Some material [allegedly over 35 tonnes] was also delivered.
The Russian Defense Ministry has not provided comments on this report yet. However, the Russian mainstream media says citing “own sources” that the delegation arrived in Venezuela for “bilateral consultations” over a wide range of topics, including the military and technical cooperation.
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