OREANDA-NEWS. The composition of the Rostec representative office in Venezuela has remained unchanged for many years, the figures cited in the article of The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) about the presence of Russian military specialists are overestimated several times, a representative of Rostec told Russian news. 

"The figures given in the article The Wall Street Journal in relation to the presence of Rostec staff in Venezuela, are exaggerated dozens of times. The composition of the representation remains unchanged for many years. With regard to technical specialists, they periodically arrive in the country for the repair and maintenance of previously supplied equipment. Recently, for example, the technical maintenance of the aircraft batch has been completed”, said the agency’s source. Rosoboronexport stressed that other Russian companies participating in Russian-Venezuelan military-technical cooperation also "remain committed to deepening cooperation with the Ministry of Defense and other government departments of Venezuela".

Earlier, the WSJ reported that Russia recently allegedly sharply reduced the number of military advisers in Venezuela. In a material published on Sunday, the publication claims that over the past few months, the number of specialists of the Rostec State Corporation, which, according to the newspaper, is responsible for training the Venezuelan military and consulting on contracts for the supply of weapons, dropped from about a thousand to a few dozen. The publication suggests that such a move may be caused by "the absence of new contracts and the recognition that the Maduro regime no longer has the means to continue to pay for other Rostec services related to past contracts".