UPDATE - Russian Military Specialists In Venezuela Help Servicing Supplied Equipment - Lavrov

PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY (Russia's Far East) (UrduPoint news / Sputnik - 31st March, 2019) KAMCHATSKY (Russia's Far East), March 31 (Sputnik) - Russian servicemen are in Venezuela legally, they are helping to carry out maintenance of previously supplied Russian military equipment, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said commenting on the recent call on Russia by US President Donald Trump to leave Venezuela.

"We have explained what our servicemen are doing in Venezuela, providing, on an absolutely legitimate and legal basis, the maintenance of military equipment, which we have delivered in accordance with an intergovernmental agreement ratified by the Venezuelan parliament and absolutely in line with the Venezuelan constitution," Lavrov said in the "Moscow. Kremlin. Putin" program aired by Rossiya-1 television.

A group of Russian military personnel arrived in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas last week to take part in consultations with country's officials on defense industry cooperation, a diplomatic source in Caracas told Sputnik. According to Venezuelan media reports, 99 Russian military staff arrived in Caracas on board two planes, which also delivered 35 tonnes of cargo.

On Wednesday, Trump said Russia "needed to get out" of Venezuela.

Earlier in the week, Pompeo denounced in a phone call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov "the continued insertion of Russian military personnel" in the Latin American country.

Lavrov noted that the Russian Foreign Ministry had already responded to a phone call by US State Secretary Mike Pompeo, who had made "similar but more polite appeal."

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on March 28 that the Russian military personnel's presence in Venezuela was fully legitimate and in accordance with the defense agreement between Moscow and Caracas. She added that the personnel would remain in the country for as long as Moscow and Caracas deem their presence necessary.

Venezuela has been suffering from a severe political crisis since January, when the leader of the country's opposition, Juan Guaido, illegally proclaimed himself interim president, contesting the re-election of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro last year.

The self-proclaimed interim president received support of the United States, which has also denounced Maduro's re-election, along with a number of other countries. China, Cuba, Russia and a number of other countries have endorsed Maduro as Venezuela's only legitimate president.