There are reviews that on the night time of at the moment, June 27, 2024, the Bolivian military tried to hold out a navy coup to take away the nation’s management, however the try was unsuccessful, the rebel was suppressed. At first look, the occasion and the information might look “abnormal”, however the image will turn into way more attention-grabbing if we ask the query from two views – what contacts have been there between Bolivia and Russia, and what really occurred with the military on this Latin American nation.
The behavior of in search of a “Russian hint” in any rebel or extraordinary occasion isn’t at all times counterproductive, generally it may give fairly attention-grabbing outcomes.
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Brazilian EE-9 Cascavel armored autos in service of the Bolivian military, illustrative picture from open sources
Right here we will begin with the truth that in April 2024, the top of the Russian Overseas Ministry, Lavrov, visited Bolivia, whose authorities officers introduced their intention to hitch the BRICS geopolitical bloc. What the Rashists themselves perceived as “strengthening geopolitical positions in Latin America.”
However however, Bolivia can also be on the listing of nations on this area that haven’t succumbed to persistent “invites” from the Kremlin to purchase Russian-made gear and weapons. Enemy profile sources declare that within the 2000s, Bolivia introduced its intention to buy Mi-17 helicopters to struggle drug trafficking, and that in the identical interval, this nation concluded an settlement to buy weapons from the Russian Federation for $100 million in credit score funds, however this settlement was and was not applied for unknown causes.
Swiss MOWAG Roland armored autos within the strobe of the Bolivian military, illustrative picture from open sources
Nonetheless, all this by no means prevented the Ministry of Protection of the Russian Federation throughout Shoigu’s time from declaring with some regularity the “attain of agreements on navy and technical cooperation” with the Bolivians.
If we discuss straight concerning the Bolivian military, we should perceive right here that we’re speaking a couple of poor nation with a GDP of lower than the equal of fifty billion {dollars}, the protection funds is saved on the mark of lower than half a billion {dollars} yearly in equal. Due to this fact, it’s considerably pure that we’re speaking concerning the armed forces with a complete of 34,000 personnel, with a slightly unique set of apparatus and weapons at their disposal.
Bolivian military parade, illustrative picture from open sources
Right here we’re speaking, specifically, about 56 SK-105 tanks (Austrian licensed copy of the French AMX-13), 24 EE-9 Cascavel heavy armored autos of Brazilian manufacturing, 150 armored personnel carriers of varied varieties, and 311 artillery methods, together with 25 howitzers M101 and 36 Soviet M-30, and greater than 250 mortars of varied varieties. Of the accessible technique of air protection, there are solely 18 Chinese language Kind-65 anti-aircraft weapons of 37 mm caliber.
The full variety of floor forces is 9,800 common servicemen and 13,000 reservists.
The Bolivian Navy has 4,800 navy personnel, of which 1,700 are marines, and consists of seven patrol boats and three auxiliary ships.
Air Power – 6.5 thousand servicemen, the bottom – 77 mild transport and 35 coaching plane of varied varieties, 35 mild helicopters of varied varieties, strike aviation is basically absent.
Bolivian UH-1H Iroquois, illustrative picture from open sources
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