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Russia does not discuss with anyone its specialists’ work in Venezuela — Kremlin aide

In Yuri Ushakov’s opinion, "one can only guess" what stands behind this statement by the US president

MOSCOW, June 4. /TASS/. Russia did not discuss with third countries the work of its specialists in Venezuela and the reports on alleged cuts in their numbers are based on conjectures, Russian Presidential Aide Yuri Ushakov said on Tuesday.

"No, we do not inform anyone on this theme," the Kremlin aide said, responding to a request to comment on US President Donald Trump’s remark in Twitter that Moscow had allegedly informed Washington about removing most of its "people from Venezuela."

In Ushakov’s opinion, "one can only guess" what stands behind this statement by the US president.

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"Some conjectures about the work, which Russia is carrying out in Venezuela, are behind this statement," the Kremlin aide said, stressing that mostly "technical specialists" in the military and technical sphere and in the economic field are staying in the Bolivarian Republic.

"Our specialists are present there only in the context of implementing the corresponding programs of military-technical and economic cooperation and I simply don’t know how many of them exist at this moment," the Kremlin aide said.

There is a "limited number" of Russia’s representatives in Venezuela, Ushakov said.

"If there were 90 people at some moment, for example, and then there were 80 of them, I don’t know whether it is worth commenting on this at the president’s level. But if this is such an important theme, then, perhaps, it is worth commenting on it, but if it is not, it is not worth a comment," the Kremlin aide said, speaking about the media reports.

Russia and Venezuela are cooperating on this issue on a bilateral basis and that is why this theme "is not commented outside this format any specially," Ushakov said.

"In this context, no one has specially transferred any information to anyone," the Kremlin aide said.

"Russia is cooperating normally with Venezuela’s incumbent leadership. I do not know how these reports [about the alleged cuts in the numbers of Russian specialists] surfaced. They are probably based on some conjectures about our participation in the internal processes [in Venezuela]," the Kremlin aide said.

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