- Mr. President, does that same argument apply to Venezuela? In other words, you are not prepared to see a transition in Venezuela and you are absolutely committed to President Maduro.
Vladimir Putin: Oh, and it seemed we started so well. Please do not take offense at what I'm going to say next, okay? We were off to such a terrific, serious start, and now you have moved back to stigmatizing Russia. We have no nothing to do with what is happening in Venezuela, you know. We have no... We…
- What are those advisors doing in Caracas, then?
Vladimir Putin: I will say this now if you just let me finish. There is no problem with that. Back under Chavez, we sold weapons to Venezuela, without any limitations or problems. We did this absolutely legally, just like every country in the world does, just like the Americans do, the British do, the Chinese do, and the French do. We did that too – we sold weapons to Venezuela. We have contracts which describe procedures to maintain this military hardware, we must train local specialists, ensure that the hardware is combat-capable, etc. So, we maintain the hardware. I have already said this many times, including to our American partners: there are no Russian troops there. You see, there are no Russian troops. There are Russian specialists and instructors there. Besides, not long ago, two weeks ago, a group left there. Our advisors, specialists. They left Venezuela! But they might return after some time. We have certain arrangements. Sometimes our aircraft take part in exercises there. That's it.
Do we orchestrate rebels just like some of our partners do? Do we control the president? He is the president, why should we control his actions? It's his job to control his people. Whether he does it well or not is another matter. We don't even make any judgments. Economically, I believe, many things could have been done differently. But we do not meddle in things; it's none of our business. Our companies have invested billions there, mostly in the oil industry. So what? So do other countries.
What makes you think that everything there revolves around Russian troops? It's not true! It bears no relationship to reality. Where are all these self-proclaimed presidents and opposition leaders? Some of them have taken refuge in foreign embassies and others are hiding elsewhere. What do we have to do with this? It's up to the Venezuelan people to sort things out.
