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Moscow Deploys Pantsir Air Defense Systems to Venezuela, Possibly Operated by Wagner Contractors

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Photo of Vlad Litnarovych
Vlad Litnarovych
News Writer
Pantsir S1 anti-aircraft system at the International Military-Technical Forum ARMY 2018 expo at Kubinka airfield in Kubinka, Russia, on August 21, 2018. (Source: Getty Images)
Pantsir S1 anti-aircraft system at the International Military-Technical Forum ARMY 2018 expo at Kubinka airfield in Kubinka, Russia, on August 21, 2018. (Source: Getty Images)

Russia has delivered Pantsir-S1 air defense systems to Venezuela—a weapon previously not in service with Caracas—Russian lawmaker Aleksey Zhuravlyov confirmed in an interview with Russian outlet Gazeta.ru on November 4.

Zhuravlyov said Moscow continues to supply arms to Venezuela amid rising tensions between Caracas and Washington.

According to him, Russia remains the country’s “key military-technical partner,” providing a “full spectrum of weaponry—from small arms to combat aircraft.” He added that the scale and composition of the deliveries remain classified, hinting that “the Americans may be in for some surprises.”

The Pantsir-S1 (NATO reporting name: SA-22 Greyhound) is a short-to-medium-range air defense system designed to engage a wide range of aerial threats—including drones, helicopters, low-flying aircraft, and cruise missiles.

It combines twin 30mm autocannons with a set of 12 ready-to-launch 57E6 surface-to-air missiles, supported by a radar-optical targeting suite that allows it to simultaneously track and intercept multiple targets within a 20-kilometer radius and at altitudes up to 15 kilometers.

According to Ukrainian military outlet Militarnyi, the introduction of such systems usually requires months of personnel training.

Far longer than the current phase of confrontation between Caracas and Washington—raising speculation that the new complexes could initially be operated under the supervision of Russian specialists or private contractors, possibly including Wagner Group  mercenaries who were reported in Venezuela last year.

Earlier, reports emerged that Russia may supply Venezuela with its new Oreshnik and Kalibr missiles following Caracas’ request for military aid from Moscow, Beijing, and Tehran amid rising US activity in the Caribbean.

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The Wagner Group, is a Russian state-funded private military company (PMC) that was controlled until 2023 by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a former close ally of Russia’s president Vladimir Putin, and since then by Pavel Prigozhin. The Wagner Group has used infrastructure of the Russian Armed Forces. Evidence suggests that Wagner has been used as a proxy by the Russian government, allowing it to have plausible deniability for military operations abroad, and hiding the true casualties of Russia’s foreign interventions. The group emerged during the war in Donbas, where it helped Russian separatist forces in Ukraine from 2014 to 2015. Wagner played a significant role in the later full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, for which it recruited Russian prison inmates for frontline combat.

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