The Kremlin has cast doubt about a report that it has sent as many as 400 private military contractors to Venezuela to help embattled socialist President Nicolas Maduro strengthen security amid opposition protests and a competing claim to leadership by opposition head Juan Guaido.
Speaking in a January 27 appearance on "Moscow. Kremlin. Putin," a weekly show on state TV, Dmitry Peskov, President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, was asked, "So are 400 of our fighters guarding Maduro in Venezuela or not?"
He responded by saying, "Fear has 100 eyes," suggesting reports citing that figure were exaggerated or untrue, but did not answer the question directly.
Peskov was then asked whether the Kremlin would "officially confirm" such reports and responded, "Of course not."
He was not asked directly whether any Russian military contractors had been sent to Venezuela and did not volunteer that information.
Previously, Peskov had said only that the Kremlin “has no such information” on the January 25 report by Reuters.
The sources told Reuters that the contractors are associated with the so-called Wagner group of mostly former Russian service personnel who have been involved in clandestine operations in foreign countries.
Yevgeny Shabayev, head of the All-Russia Officers Assembly with ties to Russian military contractors, said he had heard the number of Russian contractors in Venezuela could be around 400, although other sources spoke of smaller numbers.
An Ilyushin Il-96 plane of the Russian presidential fleet operated by Rossia Airlines
Dmitry Aleshkovsky, a prominent Russian activist and blogger, says he found evidence of a state-owned Rossia airliner that could have carried out the flight mentioned by Reuters to deliver the contractors.
He says a Russian aircraft of the special flight squadron Russia IL-96 with the tail number RA-96019 flew on January 19 from Moscow to Senegal. From Senegal on January 23 it went to Paraguay, and from there on the same day toward Havana until the plane’s transponder using for tracking purposes was turned off.
According to publicly available data, he says the plane landed twice more – possibly in Havana and in Caracas. After that, the transponder was turned back on and data show the plane landed back in Moscow.
Private Russian military contractors have been reported in other countries, including Syria, Ukraine, and in African nations.
On January 23, Russia Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova confirmed that military contractors were operating in Sudan after British press reports stated that they were helping to crack down on protesters in that country, which is an ally of Moscow.
But she denied they had anything to do with Russian state bodies.
Guaido, the president of the opposition-led National Assembly, on January 23 declared himself acting president in Caracas, as tens of thousands of people marched across the country against Maduro. Dozens of protesters have been killed in the unrest.
On January 26, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called on all United Nations members to recognize Guaido as Venezuela's interim president, calling Maduro's government nothing more than an "illegitimate mafia state" and a "socialist experiment” that has caused the economy to collapse.
"Now it is time for every other nation to pick a side. No more delays, no more games. Either you stand with the forces of freedom, or you're in league with Maduro and his mayhem," Pompeo said at a January 26 special session of the UN Security Council.
Maduro, who took office in 2013 after the death of Hugo Chavez, has been criticized for alleged human rights abuses and for his handling of Venezuela's economy.
Maduro was sworn in for a second term two weeks ago but has been met by international condemnation.
An estimated 3 million people have fled the country amid shortages of items like medicine and food.