Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov will meet Carlos Holmes Trujillo tomorrow, his Colombian homologue, to talk about the Venezuelan crisis. The announcement of the meeting came from the Russian foreign ministry, which said that the two men would give “special attention” to the Venezuelan crisis during their meeting.
The Russian foreign ministry said in a statement that the point of the meeting would be to strengthen the bonds between the two countries. Part of it reads:
Colombia is an important partner for Russia in Latin America and in the international arena.
WSJ: Russia “Withdraws Key Defense Support” for Maduro
The Wall Street Journal published an article today in which it claims that Rostec, a key military link between Caracas and Moscow, has been scaling back operations in Venezuela in recent months due to the Maduro regime’s financial difficulties.
Citing a source close to the Russian government, the article claims that Rostec has reduced the number of staff that it has in the country from a high of approximately 1,000 “several years ago” to “just a few dozen” today.
The article also revealed that Rostec’s shuttering of its operations in Venezuela will mean the cancellation of a Kalashnikov plant that was scheduled to begin producing rifles in Venezuela by the end of this year. The plant was envisioned as being able to produce 25,000 of the famed assault rifles each year.
Automatic Gunfire Heard in Cota 905, El Paraiso
Residents of the Cota 905 and El Paraiso neighbourhoods of Caracas took to Twitter this afternoon to upload videos in which the sound of automatic fire can be heard piercing through the capital’s sky.
It is difficult to tell exactly which weapon(s) can be heard in the video, but their rate of fire indicate that some of them are automatic.
Below, one of the videos in which the shooting can be heard:
Another video:
Roman Camacho, a local journalist, claimed on his Twitter account that the gunfire was related to the burial of a local gang member known as “Alexito”, who was killed on May 29 during a confrontation with the authorities.
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