AZ-VEN UPDATE 31-3-19

AZ-VEN UPDATE 31 MAR 2019


Lavrov defends legitimacy of the Russian military presence in Venezuela
Sputnik | Sunday, March 31 2019 10:04

https://www.jornada.com.mx/ultimas/2019/03/31/defiende-lavrov-legitimidad-de-la-presencia-militar-rusa-en-venezuela-131.html

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (left) with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu during a meeting held in Antalya, Turkey,
on March 29, 2019. Xinhua Photo

Petropavlovsk-Kamchatski.

Russian military experts work in Venezuela on the basis of legitimate agreements with the country's authorities,
said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

"We have already explained what our military is doing in Venezuela, guaranteeing in a purely legitimate and legal manner
the maintenance of the equipment that we had provided under the intergovernmental agreement, ratified by the Venezuelan Parliament,
in accordance with the Constitution of Venezuela," He told the Rossiya television channel 1.

A Russian military delegation arrived in Caracas last week to participate in a series of consultations with local authorities
on cooperation issues in the defense industry, a diplomatic source told Sputnik in the Venezuelan capital.

On Wednesday, the president of the United States, Donald Trump, said that Russia "should leave" Venezuela,
and earlier this week the US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, denounced in a telephone conversation to Sergey Lavrov
"the continuous insertion of personnel Russian military "in the Latin American nation.

Meanwhile, the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zajárova, said on Thursday
that the presence of the military delegation was entirely legitimate within the framework of the defense cooperation agreements
between Moscow and Caracas and added that the uniformed would remain in the Caribbean country.
the time that both governments considered necessary.

END