Russia reiterates support for Maduro, decries sanctions

Russia's veteran foreign minister Sergei Lavrov reiterated the Kremlin's support for Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro during a visit to Caracas today.

Lavrov met with senior Venezuelan government officials and members of fringe opposition parties that advocate dialogue, in contrast to the US-backed mainstream opposition that is seeking Maduro's overthrow.

"We condemn the absolutely illegitimate levers of financial and economic pressure on Venezuela," Lavrov said, referring to US oil and financial sanctions. "The goal is obvious - to foment discontent, provoke a social explosion by blocking the financial, oil, gold mining sectors of the Venezuelan economy."

Russia's state-controlled Rosneft has emerged as the top lifter of Venezuelan crude since the US imposed oil sanctions on the Opec country in January 2019, with shipments booked as payment on loans that Venezuelan officials have said they hope to fully repay as early as March. Among Russian assets in Venezuela is Rosneft's PetroMonagas heavy crude joint venture with Venezuelan national oil company PdV, and preliminary rights to offshore natural gas deposits.

Lavrov's visit is the last leg of a tour that included Cuba and Mexico. The Mexican government has advocated non-interference in Venezuelan affairs. Cuba, the Maduro government's closest ally, is a steady recipient of free Venezuelan oil.

Russian president Vladimir Putin last met with Maduro in October 2019 to strengthen bilateral relations and "agreed upon new approaches and mechanisms for cooperation that were designed to protect economic relations between Russia and Venezuela from the illegal interference of the United States," Lavrov told his Venezuelan hosts today.

The Russian visit follows a high-profile tour by Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido to the EU, Canada and the US, where he met with US president Donald Trump this week. Guaido is recognized by the US and dozens of western countries as Venezuela's interim president in place of Maduro, but his campaign to establish a transition government has faltered.

Behind the scenes

The optics in Washington and Caracas this week belie behind-the-scenes US efforts to unite Venezuela's opposition and potentially engage Moscow in a solution to the protracted conflict ahead of Venezuelan parliamentary elections that are supposed to take place at an unspecified date this year. Trump says he is considering a visit to Moscow in May.

Former US secretary of state Rex Tillerson, fired by Trump in March 2018, said this week he advised his successor to pursue an understanding with Russia as a way to advance a change of government in Venezuela. "It is not going to happen if you do not have Russia coordinating with you and sorting out what Russia gets out of this in order to change the government of Venezuela," Tillerson told the Argus Americas Crude Conference in Houston.

According to former White House National Security Council Russia and Europe director, Fiona Hill, Moscow in early 2019 offered to downgrade its relations with the Maduro government in exchange for the US dialing back involvement in resolving the conflict in eastern Ukraine, but the proposal never got off the ground. "I was asked to go out to Russia in (May 2019) to basically tell the Russians to knock this off," Hill told US lawmakers during Trump's recent impeachment hearings.