(Bogota) The United States on Wednesday accused Russia of “trying to extend” in Colombia, from neighboring Venezuela, “its anti-democratic influence”.
Posted at 4:54 p.m.
“Why is Russia more active on Colombia’s borders? We can only think that they are trying to extend their anti-democratic influence,” US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland said on local radio during an official visit to Bogotá. including regional security.
“We are particularly concerned about the growing influence of Russia along the border” with Venezuela, underlined Mr.me Nuland, who warned of the “potential” risk of Moscow “providing malicious actors […] who are not only active in Venezuela, but who may try to undermine the sovereignty” of Colombia.
“Countries that choose to receive aid and support from Russia naturally pose a threat to democracy,” she added, when asked about Russia’s military cooperation with its Venezuelan ally.
On Tuesday, Washington and Bogota announced, without explicitly citing Russia, an agreement to join forces to counter “foreign actors” who will try to destabilize the elections to be held in the spring in Colombia.
These statements come a few days after Colombian accusations against Moscow’s “foreign interference” on the border with Venezuela, assertions rejected in the wake of the Russian ambassador stationed in Bogota.
The same Russian Ambassador, Nikolay Tavdumadze, met with Colombian Foreign Minister Marta Lucia Ramirez on Monday and pledged that Russia’s military assistance to Caracas would not end up in the hands of armed groups operating on the porous border shared by Venezuela and Colombia.
On Tuesday, President Ivan Duque insisted that “there have been outside influences seeking to manipulate information and induce behavior in one direction or another”.