The Russian embassy in Bogotá expressed this Friday its “perplexity” before the accusations and regretted that the Colombian government made repeated “baseless attempts to accuse the Russian Federation” from “alleged interference in the internal affairs of Colombia”.
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The claim comes a day after Colombian Defense Minister Diego Molano said that Russia is involved in an attempt to “foreign interference” on the border line with Venezuela.
“We know that some men and military units of the Bolivarian military forces have been mobilized towards the border with the support and technical force of Russia”, denounced the minister at a press conference citing intelligence sources.
The Russian embassy described “irresponsible” those statements. Cool, “in his tireless pursuit of (search for) fictional enemies”, used information “without any check”, add the text.
After learning of the reaction, Colombian President Iván Duque invited the embassy to initiate a “frank conversation” for “understand the scope and purpose” of their “military presence” on Venezuelan soil.
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In May 2021, in the midst of an unprecedented protest movement, Colombia blamed Russia for being linked to cyberattacks against official pages.
The Russian embassy then expressed its surprise at these accusations “totally unfounded”.
The Colombian-Venezuelan border is the scene of a blood and fire confrontation between the ELN guerrillas and FARC dissidents who did not accept the 2016 peace agreement.
shocks, that occur mainly in the department of Arauca, have intensified since the first days of 2022.
According to the Ombudsman’s Office, which watches over human rights, at least 66 people died in January and more than 1,200 have been displaced fleeing the violence.
The Duque government has repeatedly accused Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro of giving protection to rebel groups, which Chavismo denies.
By order of the president, the Colombian military forces deployed some 1,300 soldiers, joining the more than 5,600 men and women already operating in the area. Bogota, one of the main allies of the United States on the continent, and Caracas broke off diplomatic relations shortly after Duque came to power, in August 2018.
AFP
