Responding to a weekend Washington Post report saying that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has requested military assistance from Moscow, especially missiles and radars, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said simply: "We are closely monitoring the situation in Venezuela."

WaPo has indicated that the American military build-up in the southern Caribbean includes 10,000 soldiers and 6,000 sailors, making the total force posture a whopping 16,000 troops.

The publication describes, "U.S. forces in the Caribbean include eight Navy warships, a special operations vessel and a nuclear-powered attack submarine. When the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford arrives in the Caribbean next week, it will bring with it three more warships and more than 4,000 additional troops."

Prior to the carrier group's arrival, these are the warships currently patrolling waters near Venezuela:

USS Iwo Jima

USS San Antonio

USS Stockdale

USS Jason Dunham

USS Gravely

USS Lake Erie

USS Wichita

USS Gettysburg

It is not known whether Moscow is actually following through in any way based on Maduro's urgent request - but any extra assistance is likely too little, too late at this point - as it would require significant logistics at a moment Caracas is under direct threat by the Pentagon.

Island-nations off Venezuela have been some large Air Force toys dropped on them in the last days and weeks...