Less than two weeks ago, Russia shifted the balance of power in Venezuela, sending in 100 crack troops, ostensibly to repair Russian-made military aircraft damaged in Venezuela's massive blackout.
Two planeloads of roughly 100 Russian military personnel landed in Venezuela. The stated reason for their arrival was to help service Venezuela’s Russian-purchased S-300 air defense systems, which may have been damaged amid the country’s increasingly frequent blackouts. The news followed earlier reports of Russian mercenaries or private military contractors already operating as security for the embattled regime.
Venezuela's neighbors, including the U.S., and Venezuela's own people expressed deep dismay, because it appeared that Russia would be propping up Venezuela's brutal failed socialist regime to ensure that Venezuela's democrats could never dislodge dictator Nicolas Maduro. It appeared to be a replay of what the Putin regime did in Syria to prop up its ally, dictator Bashar al-Asad, as this strong piece by Annika Hernroth-Tothstein at the Daily Beast argued. Russia nevertheless downplayed the the whole thing, and National Security Advisor John Bolton's warning, calling Russia's dispatch of troops to Venezuela "a direct threat to international peace and security in the region" came and went without much notice.
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