Russia claims Venezuela didn’t know how to use air defenses during Maduro’s capture

Moscow.- The Russian ambassador to Venezuela, Sergei Melik-Bagdasarov, assured this Monday that Caracas fired two shots with Russian anti-aircraft defenses against US troops during the operation to capture President Nicolás Maduro, but they failed due to lack of training of Venezuelan military personnel.

“In addition to having a machine gun in your hands, you have to know how to shoot it,” he said in an interview with the Rossia 24 channel. The diplomat held Venezuelan military personnel responsible for not having “sufficient training” to operate the Russian Igla anti-aircraft defense systems, which, according to him, failed during the U.S. military operation on January 3rd. He explained that he was informed that “there were at least two shots (by the Russian defense systems) and both missed their target”.

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However, Melik-Bagdasarov assured that military cooperation continues, that “it has not been canceled,” that Russia continues to fulfill its commitments, and that the maintenance of Russian weapons systems in the Latin American country will continue for decades. After Maduro’s capture, international media questioned the operability and effectiveness of the anti-aircraft defense systems that Russia had previously supplied to Venezuela. The U.S. Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, hinted at the time that Russian air defense proved insufficient, as the S-300 batteries and Buk systems were rendered useless by electronic warfare systems. Thus, the Kremlin was exposed as an exporter of security by failing to guarantee the defense of the authoritarian regimes it has as allies.

Russia interested in continuing investment in Venezuela

Today, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov defended that Russia is interested in continuing its investment in Venezuela. “We have several projects that we are interested in continuing,” he informed, defending that Russia “has maintained constant contact with Venezuelan leaders daily from the beginning” and that “knows well” the president in charge of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez. Last year, Russia announced that it had built a ammunition factory for Kalashnikov rifles and was in the process of building another assault rifle factory in the Latin American country, where it already had other military industry plants.