UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st May, 2020) Russia does not believe that the United States had no involvement in the recent attempted incursion into Venezuela, Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Dmitry Polyanskiy said during a UN Security Council meeting on Wednesday.
"The US authorities claimed that they have nothing to do with this. We would be glad to believe them, but failed to explain that, according to the contract, two American citizens were planning to take hostage of the legitimate Venezuelan President and bring him to the United States," Polyanskiy said. "For what purpose, may I ask?"
On May 3, Venezuelan authorities said an attempted maritime invasion by militants from Colombia had been prevented as eight militants were killed and several others detained.
One of the detained individuals, US citizen Luke Denman who works for the security firm Silvercorp USA, said during an interrogation that the group's aim was to seize the Caracas airport and bring Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to the United States.
Venezuelan Communications Minister Jorge Rodriguez later unveiled a 41-page contract worth $213 million between the Venezuelan opposition and private military firm Silvercorp USA to "capture/detain/remove" Maduro. The paper is believed to have signatures of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido himself; Sergio Vergara, a member of the opposition-controlled parliament; and Miami-based political consultant Juan Jose Rendon.
"How does it correlate with constant 'all options are on the table' type messages by US authorities to Caracas, including a recent announcement of a 15 million US Dollars bounty for President Maduro," Poyanksiy also questioned.
In March, the United States indicted Venezuelan Maduro on charges of "narco-terrorism," as announced by US Attorney General William Barr, and pledged a $15 million reward for information leading to Maduro's capture.
