US condemns Russian deployment of
military equipment to Venezuela
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| An airplane with the Russian flag is seen at Simon Bolivar International Airport in Caracas |
Venezuela accepting two Russian military planes full of
personnel and specialists plus tonnes of technical hardware is being roundly
criticized by Washington.
By James Blears
The two planes with more than 30 tons of equipment and one
hundred soldiers landed on Venezuelan territory on Saturday. The US State Department
waited until the beginning of the week to issue a verbal salvo stressing:
"The United States condemns Russia`s deployment of military aircraft and
personnel, as a reckless escalatation of the situation."
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo waded in with his own
broadside, calling his Russian opposite number Sergei Lavrov, to insist that
the United States won`t stand idly by. Yet he hasn`t elaborated on exactly what
action would be taken to prevent so called indolence. Venezuelan officials
insist this is maintenance of Russian military hardware, purchased by
themselves. Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza is accusing Washington of hypocrisy
spending billions on its own armed services budgets while interfering with
another and different technical cooperation program.
With political sparks flying, another electricity blackout
affected 16 of Venezuela`s 23 States, with the Government accusing the US of
yet more sabotage. While Opposition Leader Juan Guaido has said it`s due to an
creaking, ageing overloaded system which is part of a crumbling infrastructure
gridlock.
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