- Статьи
- World
- Contact base: The United States failed to force Venezuela to cease cooperation with Russia
Contact base: The United States failed to force Venezuela to cease cooperation with Russia
The US actions in Venezuela have not forced Moscow and Caracas to reconsider their bilateral cooperation. Domestic companies will continue to fulfill their obligations. Moreover, Russia is ready to increase the supply of agricultural products. Washington's intention to control Venezuela's oil industry has also not affected cooperation in this industry so far, but the situation may change in the future. The American media writes that the United States plans to use private military campaigns to protect Venezuela's energy and oil infrastructure. Experts do not rule out a new American invasion. Now Donald Trump is eyeing the Venezuelan political leaders — a meeting was held at the White House with opposition leader Maria Corina Machado. What are the prospects for the development of cooperation with Caracas in connection with the latest events — in the Izvestia article.
Development of joint projects
Russia intends to increase cooperation with Venezuela even after the political upheavals in that country, the Russian Embassy told Izvestia.
"Cooperation will continue in accordance with the previously outlined priorities, including within the framework of the Plan for the Development of Key Areas of Cooperation until 2030 and other agreements reached at the 19th meeting of the Russian-Venezuelan High-level Intergovernmental Commission held in November 2025," they said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro during the signing of cooperation documents
Venezuela is a strategic partner of Russia. The relevant cooperation agreement was signed on May 7, 2025, by the leaders of the two countries, Vladimir Putin and Nicolas Maduro. The document expands cooperation between Russia and Venezuela in the political and economic spheres, including in energy, mining, transport, communications, as well as in the field of security, countering terrorism and extremism.
The parties intend to develop trade regardless of the actions of the United States. In 2018-2024, the trade turnover between Russia and Venezuela increased by 54%, and by the end of 2024 it amounted to $200 million. Last year, the supply of products from Venezuela to Russia increased threefold, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko said. Our importers are interested in increasing purchases of Venezuelan cocoa, coffee and seafood. In November, the deputy prime minister clarified that by 2030, the trade turnover between Russia and Venezuela could grow to $400 million.
Wheat accounts for the lion's share of trade between the two countries. The diplomats added that local climatic conditions do not allow Venezuela to produce this cereal crop, so the demand for imports from Russia remains traditionally high. In 2024, Russia supplied more than 276 thousand tons of wheat to Venezuela.
— In recent years, wheat has occupied one of the leading positions among Russian products supplied to Venezuela. The specific volumes of shipments in 2026 will depend on the agreements between the companies of the two countries, the embassy noted.
Cooperation in the oil sector
In the light of recent events, further cooperation between the countries in the energy sector raises the greatest number of questions. The agreement, in particular, provides for cooperation in such areas as the exploration and development of new oil and natural gas fields, increasing the returns of fields operated by joint ventures, and expanding oil trading operations on a mutually beneficial basis.
The Russian Embassy commented that domestic companies will continue to fulfill their obligations and develop joint projects with Venezuelan partners.
"In general, domestic economic operators are ready to respond to emerging challenges, and specific volumes of supplies will be determined by the parties," the representative office added.
In Venezuela, there are five joint oil production enterprises of Roszarubezhneft, which are 100% owned by the Russian Federation, and PDVSA, the state-owned oil and gas company of the Latin American country. Caracas receives diluents to facilitate the extraction of heavy oil. Urals and naphtha products are used for this purpose. According to Bloomberg, from March to October 2025, the volume of naphtha supplies from Russia to Venezuela exceeded 7 million barrels. The publication writes that the United States ceased to be the main supplier of naphtha to Venezuela in 2025, and Russia took its place.
One of the key goals of the United States in Venezuela is to take control of the entire oil industry in the country. According to CNN sources, Washington plans to use private military campaigns to protect the country's energy and oil infrastructure. The issue is at an early stage of discussion, but many companies are already actively offering their candidacies, despite the fact that during the Iraq war, the United States spent a staggering $138 billion on PMCs, CNN writes.
Full control of the oil infrastructure will enable the United States to squeeze Russia and China out of the country. Currently, according to experts, there are no changes in cooperation between Moscow and Caracas on oil, but everything may change in the future.
Roszarubezhneft has already announced that the company plans to continue developing the previously acquired assets jointly with the Venezuelan side, Nikolay Dudchenko, an analyst at Finam Financial Group, told Izvestia. But the working conditions are quite difficult, said Alexander Frolov, Deputy Director General of the Institute of National Energy, editor-in-chief of InfoTEK. The expert stressed that anti-Russian sanctions continue to operate.
— The main constraint for Venezuelan oil production is the price level, at which it is impossible to expand it by millions of barrels. It can be increased by another 400-500 thousand barrels and simply brought to the level before the imposition of sanctions in 2019, but no more," Frolov concluded.
A blow to building a multipolar world
The strategic partnership between the two countries, according to Chairman of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin, contributes to building a multipolar world, which Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stated. However, according to experts, the US actions in Venezuela violate the strategy for its formation.
One of the tasks of the United States in Venezuela was to "clear the western hemisphere of elements unfavorable to Washington," Konstantin Blokhin, a researcher at the Center for Security Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences, told Izvestia. The United States cannot allow Chinese and Russian bases to be located near its borders.
"BRICS, as a symbol of a multipolar world, is an enemy for the United States, since unification undermines American power," Egor Lidovskaya, Director General of the Hugo Chavez Latin American Cultural Center, told Izvestia.
As a result of the kidnapping of the Venezuelan president, the United States dealt a blow not only to the project of a multipolar world, but also to the principles of the international order that the United States itself had created earlier, Oleg Yasinsky, an international journalist and specialist in Latin America, told Izvestia. The expert added that Washington conducted the first ever direct military operation in South America.
According to Blokhin, Trump's task is to try to manage Venezuela without much investment, and regime change involves significant financial costs. This requires a large-scale military intervention, like Afghanistan and Iraq, involving at least 100,000 people. Trump wants to avoid an invasion because it is expensive and could lead to a "second Vietnam."
— He won't do it, given the experience of previous military companies. Therefore, he wants to rule Venezuela indirectly, without regime change, as if having his own viceroy," the American expert emphasized.
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado
It would seem that the meeting between Donald Trump and Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado on January 15 is the choice of that very governor, but Trump himself admitted earlier that she has little support and respect in Venezuela itself. According to White House spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt, Caracas fulfills all requests from the United States, and Donald Trump looks forward to continuing cooperation with the country's authorities. The US Administration continues to maintain constant communication with the authorized President of Venezuela.
The United States has failed to change the very government in the country. But Lidovsky is sure that in Venezuela, Chavismo as a system has not collapsed, and Trump has to take this into account. The recognition by the United States of Delcy Rodriguez as acting president means that Chavismo is the only force that can keep the country in a state of stability. On January 3, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held a telephone conversation with Rodriguez, expressing "firm solidarity with the people of Venezuela in the face of armed aggression."
Machado is a media and symbolic character, like Juan Guaido once was, Oleg Yasinsky believes. According to him, Trump is betting on the legitimate government of Venezuela, hoping to tame it through blackmail and corruption. Konstantin Blokhin believes that the US president is implementing a classic strategy — to rely on everyone, and popularity, if necessary, can be pumped up informationally and financially.
Experts do not rule out a second US invasion of Venezuela. At the same time, there is an opinion that after Maduro's capture, Washington will no longer conduct military operations in the republic if Trump insists on its desuverenization, and Caracas will not agree to this, Lidovskaya added.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
