Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday held a phone call to plan strategy with Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, one of Putin’s few outspoken supporters during Russia’s attack on Ukraine. The Kremlin said Maduro expressed “strong support” for Russia’s war effort during the call.
According to the Kremlin readout of the call, Maduro also denounced the “destabilizing actions of the United States and NATO” and claimed the Western world is using “lies and disinformation” to undermine Russia.
Putin, in turn, reassured Maduro that Russia only invaded Ukraine to “protect the civilian population” in the separatist Donbas region, secure Ukrainian recognition of Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, and ensure Ukraine has a “neutral and non-nuclear” stance toward Russia.
Maduro bizarrely commemorated the call by posting a chummy photo of himself with Putin and claimed the two dictators are “in favor of understanding and dialogue as a way to preserve peace”:
The Maduro regime has been blaming the U.S. and NATO for launching the war in Ukraine ever since the first Russian tanks rolled across the border. Last Thursday, the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry accused the West of forcing Putin’s hand by violating the Minsk agreement, the 2014 roadmap for resolving the separatist crisis in eastern Ukraine.
“The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela expresses its worry over the worsening of the crisis in Ukraine, and laments the mockery and violation of the Minsk accords on the part of NATO, encouraged by the United States of America,” the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry said.
“The derailment of these accords has violated international law and created strong threats against the Russian Federation, its territorial integrity and sovereignty, as well as impeded good relations between neighboring countries,” the ministry claimed.
Foreign Policy noted last week that Russia’s long ties with Latin America are keeping much of the region uneasily silent on the Ukraine invasion, with a few calls for ending hostilities but little enthusiasm for joining the worldwide alliance against Russian aggression.
For Venezuela and Putin’s other noxious autocratic allies in Nicaragua and Cuba, the Ukraine crisis could present an opportunity to squeeze concessions out of the United States in exchange for diplomatic support, while tension in the global energy marketplace will make Venezuela’s oil more valuable, blunting the pressure of U.S. sanctions against Maduro.
“Rising oil prices may benefit Maduro, but their otherwise adverse effects will be felt across Latin America, likely boosting inflation levels that are already among the highest experienced by any world region,” Foreign Policy concluded – laying out a scenario that might not be all that bad for Maduro overall, as it puts a little more money in his kleptocratic pockets while weakening the economies of rival and competitor nations.
Along those lines, the Ukraine crisis could exacerbate tensions between Venezuela and Colombia, which has been cultivating ties with the U.S. and NATO, and immediately condemned the Russian invasion.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) on Tuesday suggested Latin America could serve Russia as a means of eluding international sanctions via black markets, a potentially profitable arrangement for Venezuela and other regional powers – but the conflict in Ukraine could also spell political trouble for Latin American despots by providing an inspiring example of “stiff resistance and heroic efforts” against authoritarian power.
That could explain why Russian propaganda is playing on full blast across Central and South America, with “robust” exposure through Spanish-language media, and enough social media juice to get a few “abolish NATO” hashtags trending.