Its reported that hundreds of private military mercenaries linked to Russia have flown to Venezuela in a desperate bid to save the country’s embattled President Nicolas Maduro, sources close to the group have said.

Sources said there could be up to 400 contractors from Russia-backed clandestine group Wagner, adding there was a contingent in Caracas but could not elaborate what their role was in Venezuela.

Moscow-backed Maduro is fighting for his presidency after opposition leader Juan Guaido declared himself Venezuela’s leader last week. Mr Guaido is supported by Washington but Vladimir Putin is pouring all his efforts into making sure Mr Maduro keeps hold of power.

The Wagner Group are known for their secret missions across the world, most notably in Africa where they have been linked to the deaths of three Russian journalists who were producing a documentary, and in Ukraine supporting Russia’s hybrid warfare efforts there.

Also in Syria, where we reported that U.S. forces had killed scores of these Russian mercenaries when the U.S. military had struck pro-regime forces in Syria near the Euphrates River with airstrikes, artillery, tanks, and rocket fire in response to forces allied with Assad making an “unprovoked attack” on the Kurdish SDF headquarters where U.S. coalition forces were also located adjacent to important oil and gas fields.

The Wagner Group is a Russian shadowy mercenary organization known as Russia’s answer to Blackwater — that was hired by Assad or his allies to gain control and guard Syrian energy assets in exchange for oil concessions in Syria.

Now its reported they’ve popped up in Venezuela, where Russia is keen to back the embattled Maduro because of his anti-US stance, and access to Venezuela’s rich oil reserves and arms agreements.

Russia has been all too eager to support a regime in Caracas that is anti-United States and has taken a number of actions to threaten the interests of not just the US but other countries in the region.

Wagner is headed by Russian lieutenant Dmitri Utkin who is also a member of the Russian military intelligence agency the GRU, the organisation accused of being behind the Salisbury poisonings in Britain.

Sources citing contacts said Wagner fighters flew in not from Moscow but from third party countries through Cuba. After arriving in Havana, the Wagner operatives then used regular commercial flights into Venezuela.

The sources were said to have linked the Wagner deployment as being directly connected to protecting Maduro.

With US President Trump saying all options are on the table for the US in Venezuela, the tensions between Russia and the U.S. could become very interesting in America’s backyard.

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