Russian General In Venezuela Leading Advisory Mission: Ukraine’s Intel Chief
The long-standing Russian mission in Venezuela is not directly related to the ongoing U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean.
Acontroversial Russian general is now in Venezuela leading a rotational advisory mission, the head of Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Directorate (GUR) told The War Zone exclusively. Colonel General Oleg Leontievich Makarevich commands the Russian Ministry of Defense’s Equator Task Force (ETF), Lt. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov said. Makarevich is in charge of more than 120 troops who are training Venezuelan forces on a wide range of military functions, according to Budanov. Those activities are not in reaction to the current U.S. military buildup in the region.
The War Zone cannot independently verify Budanov’s claim and we have reached out to the White House, Pentagon and U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) for confirmation. We will update this story with any pertinent details provided. Questions to Budanov were prompted in part by a story in Intelligence Online claiming that an elite Russian drone unit has arrived in Venezuela to teach troops there how to use first-person view (FPV) drones.
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Several hundred Russian soldiers are said to be deployed in Venezuela, along with at least one general.
Trump continues banging the war drums against Venezuela, without ever taking any real action to make good on those threats. Currently, around 15,000 personnel have been repositioned to the United States Southern Command’s area of responsibility (AOR). It has taken months to achieve this.
In the meanwhile, Venezuela’s regime as led by socialist Nicolas Maduro has had time to disperse its military assets and to call upon its allies to send reinforcements.
Is a Russian General on the Ground in Venezuela?
According to a recent report in The Warzone, a popular online defense trade publication, a senior Russian general, Oleg Leontievich Makarevich, has been deployed to Venezuela to head what is described as a “rotational advisory mission” of roughly 120 Russian troops.
The report details how these Russian troops have been placed in advisory roles for the Venezuelan Armed Forces, specifically in infantry, drone operations, special forces, military intelligence/signals intelligence, armor, aircraft, artillery, even dogs and domestic surveillance.
General Makarevich’s unit has been identified as the “Equator Task Force” (ETF) as part of the Russian Ministry of Defense. But it’s part of a larger movement of Russian forces into Venezuela. For instance, the Russians have been flying planeloads of military equipment into the country since the start of the geopolitical crisis between Caracas and Washington.
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