US instigating 'dangerous provocation' in Venezuela using aid supplies: Russia

Russia has warned that the United States is using humanitarian aid to instigate a “dangerous provocation” in Venezuela by arming the country's opposition while moving its own forces closer to Venezuelan borders in preparation for a military invasion.

According to reports, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Washington and its allies were planning to supply Venezuela's self-proclaimed president, Juan Guaido, and his supporters with a wide range of weapons as they challenge the legal government of President Nicolas Maduro.

"We have information that companies from the US and its NATO allies are considering the possibility of buying a large batch of weapons in one of Eastern European countries in order to provide them to the Venezuelan opposition," she told the media in Moscow on Friday.

"The batch will reportedly include heavy machine guns, grenade launchers, portable missile launchers and ammunition for light weapons and artillery systems. So this is what they mean when they talk about delivering humanitarian aid," Zakharova added.

Guaido, who has already welcomed US threats of potential military intervention in his country, has set a Saturday deadline for the government to let in the alleged US “aid” supplies.

Maduro has said that US President Donald Trump wants to facilitate regime change in Venezuela under the cover of manufacturing a humanitarian crisis there. On Thursday, he ordered Venezuela's border with Brazil to be shut and threatened to also close the border with Colombia as well.

Guaido, however, has claimed that 300,000 Venezuelans could die without aid and that he would rally a million volunteers to start bringing the US shipments into the country by Saturday.

Zakharova said Friday the plan to use aid shipments as a cover allowed Washington to move special forces and military equipment “closer to Venezuelan territory” by causing tensions at the border.

Guaido's intentions to bring the supplies across the border were aimed at provoking violence, she further noted.

Earlier in the day, deadly clashes erupted near the border with Brazil, where at least two people were killed and several others injured after trying to confront Venezuelan troops in the southern town of Kumarakapay.

Venezuelan troops were forced to open fire on a group of people who tried to block a road with the aim of preventing military vehicles from passing, according to witnesses.

Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino has made it clear that the military is on alert at the country’s frontiers and will block any territorial infringement.

The Russian ministry spokeswoman warned that a US military intervention in Venezuela would lead to a “sharp increase in tensions” around the world.

SS