Venezuela is our backyard, Russia needs to leave: Gen. Jack Keane

The crisis in Venezuela has intensified in recent days with further blackouts and a string of attacks on anti-Nicolás Maduro politicians.

Maduro, the embattled Venezuelan president, has garnered the support of Russia with Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova acknowledging on Thursday that “Russian specialists” are in Venezuela.

The Russian military presence in the South American country is in accordance with the Venezuelan constitution and a bilateral agreement, according to Zakharova.

President Trump told Russia, in no uncertain terms, to back off from Venezuela.

“Russia has to get out,” the president said on Wednesday as he hosted Fabiana Rosales de Guaidó, the wife of the U.S.-recognized President of Venezuela, Juan Guaidó.

Retired Army Gen. Jack Keane told “Trish Regan Primetime” that Russia’s actions in Venezuela raises the stakes, but a U.S. military intervention option is unlikely on the negotiating table.

“This is South America. This is our backyard. One hundred soldiers does not make a military intervention-- that's what we've got here,” he said on Thursday.

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The four star general and Fox News senior strategic analyst suggested ways the U.S. could pressure Russia to leave the western hemisphere.

“Russia has never complied with the U.N. resolution on sanctions dealing with North Korea. They have been in violation of the very resolution that they voted for. I suspect we have evidence of it-- let's put it out there and expose them for that. Expose what they're truly doing in assisting the North Koreans in violation of the U.N. resolution,” Keane said.