In the midst of the crisis along its western border with Colombia, Venezuela has moved troops to an eastern area near the contested Essequibo region, long administered by Guyana, Guyanese President David Granger said on Tuesday.

Granger said the "extraordinary military deployments" signal a "dangerous" escalation of a decades-old dispute between the South American neighbors, the Associated Press reported. The government of embattled Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, for its part, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on any deployment, the newswire added.

Caracas did, however, announce that it was conducting military exercises in the eastern part of the country, Agence France-Presse detailed. Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López told the agency the buildup was an "operational deployment exercise."

Venezuelans can rest assured "because we are really preparing ourselves ... even with all the fronts we face today," Padrino noted.

Venezuela and Guyana have long been at odds over the oil-rich Essequibo, which an 1899 international tribunal ruling awarded to the then-British colony. For decades, Caracas has objected to that decision, and official maps continue to refer to the area as "in reclamation."

In early July, Maduro upped the ante in the rekindled dispute, when he recalled his country's ambassador in Georgetown, the neighboring country's capital, according to Reuters. But Venezuela has long ruled out the use of force in its attempt to return the territory to its sovereignty.

Nevertheless, the alleged deployment marks a "hostile and aggressive" step, said Granger, whom his Venezuelan counterpart has called a "hostage of ExxonMobil," in reference to a significant oil discovery the American company made recently in the Essequibo region.

"We feel that Venezuela is treading a dangerous course at this point in time rather than seeking a peaceful resolution of the matter," the Guyanese leader said. "Venezuela seems to be pursuing a very offensive and aggressive course."

The Caribbean country's foreign ministry, meanwhile, blamed the spat squarely on Caracas.

"The present tensions between Guyana and Venezuela are neither the making of the present government nor the previous administration of Guyana; [they are] of Venezuela's own creation because there can be no doubt that the concession being operated by ExxonMobil ... are in territory that is Guyana's under any correct interpretation of international law," the ministry said in a statement.