“The head of the GUR Kyrylo Budanov said that there is currently a Russian contingent of more than 120 military personnel in Venezuela, headed by Colonel-General Oleg Makarevych”, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
“They play the role of military advisors and instructors. This is the training of infantry, special forces, UAV operators, as well as work with intelligence and communications,” Budanov’s comment to the publication The War Zone is quoted by the GUR press service.
According to the head of the GUR, the rotation of Russian forces in Venezuela has been going on for many years and is not a response to the strengthening of the American military presence in the region. He added that the group’s commander, Makarevych, and about 90 Russian servicemen are stationed in Caracas, while the rest are stationed at facilities in Maracaibo, La Guaira, and Avedes Island.
According to the GUR, during the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the commander of the Russian contingent in Venezuela, Makarevych, commanded the “Dnipro” troop group and in June 2023 organized the undermining of the Kakhovskaya HPP. In June 2024, Ukrainian law enforcement officers informed him of the suspicion. In July of this year, the SBU named Makarevich among five Russian generals who were informed in absentia of suspicion for commanding mass shelling of the de-occupied part of the Kherson region.
At the end of October, The Washington Post, citing internal documents, reported that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro had asked Russian President Vladimir Putin for military assistance.
Increasing the US military presence in the Caribbean is likely to be Maduro’s biggest challenge. Since September, more than a dozen US strikes against suspected drug traffickers, most of them departing from the shores of Venezuela, have killed at least 62 people. The administration has not provided evidence that the ships were involved in drug trafficking, something Maduro denies. The Kremlin’s official position on Trump’s actions on Venezuela remains relatively low-key.
Regional tensions have escalated as a result of the strikes, with Venezuela saying the United States is plotting to topple President Nicolas Maduro, who has accused Washington of “warming up the war.”