Colombia says Venezuelan troops moving to border with help from Russia and Iran

Defence minister Diego Molano referred to move as 'foreign interference'

Colombia's Defence Minister Diego Molano said Venezuela's armed forces have been mobilised at the border the two countries share. Reuters

Venezuela is moving troops to the border with Colombia with technical assistance from Russia and Iran, Colombia's Defence Minister Diego Molano said on Thursday.

He referred to the possible stationing of soldiers at the border as “foreign interference”.

Mr Molano, citing intelligence sources, said troop movements were registered in Venezuela opposite Colombia's Arauca province, the scene of fierce clashes between guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (ELN) and Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) dissidents as they fight for control of the drugs trade.

“We know that men and units of the FANB have been mobilised towards the border with technical assistance from Russia … and Iran,” he said at an anti-drugs conference in Colombia's Caribbean city of Cartagena.

The FANB is the Spanish acronym of Venezuela's National Bolivarian Armed Forces.

Venezuela's Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino denied Mr Molano's comments on Twitter.

“Colombia, the country which Bogota's oligarchy has converted into an appendix of the [US] South Command in our America, into a location of US military bases … denounces interference in Venezuela … my God!," Mr Padrino tweeted.

Colombia's human rights ombudsman has reported that clashes between illegal armed groups in Arauca left 66 dead and 1,200 people displaced in January alone.

Fighting between the groups over control of drug trafficking and other illicit activities began in Venezuela's Apure state before spreading to Colombia, Mr Molano said.

The ELN has teamed up with the Segunda Marquetalia, a faction of the demobilised Farc who reject a 2016 peace deal with the government, to fight another Farc dissident group, he said.

The violence in Arauca, a key area for oil production and cattle rearing, continues despite orders from Colombia's President Ivan Duque in early January for more troops to be sent there to take control of the territory and end the bloodshed.

The Colombian government accuses Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro of sheltering both Farc dissidents and the ELN, something he has repeatedly denied.

Last year, Mr Maduro said his government would combat all manner of illegal armed groups originating from Colombia in Venezuelan territory in 2022.