The U.S. military operation in Venezuela can be seen as both a benefit and a burden for Russian President Vladimir Putin. His forces botched an attempt to capture Ukraine’s capital and topple its leader at the start of Moscow’s invasion nearly four years ago.
The lightning U.S. operation to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro can be seen as both a benefit and a burden for Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose forces botched an attempt to capture Ukraine’s capital and topple its leader at the start of Moscow’s invasion nearly four years ago.
The ouster of Maduro highlights another Kremlin failure to support an ally, following the downfall of Syria’s former President Bashar Assad in 2024 and last year’s U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran. With the U.S. determined to establish control over Venezuela, Russia stands to lose a strategic foothold in the Western Hemisphere, along with billions of dollars invested in its oil industry.
But President Donald Trump’s actions in Venezuela also are causing unease in Western nations and giving the Kremlin fresh talking points to defend its war in Ukraine.
In addition, Trump’s interest in wresting control of Greenland from NATO ally Denmark also threatens to destabilize the alliance at the moment when the U.S.-led efforts to broker peace in Ukraine enter a pivotal stage, distracting its members from their efforts to support Kyiv and provide it with security guarantees.
Putin himself hasn’t commented on the U.S. actions in Venezuela, which his diplomats have denounced as a blatant act of aggression. Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s former president who serves as his deputy on the presidential Security Council, similarly rebuked Washington for trampling international law — but also complimented Trump on defending U.S. interests.
“Even though Trump’s action is completely unlawful, he cannot be denied a certain consistency — he and his team are very aggressively upholding their country’s national interests,” Medvedev said.
On Wednesday, the U.S. said it seized two sanctioned oil tankers linked to Venezuela, including one flagged to Russia in the North Atlantic.
Since 2014’s illegal annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula that followed the ouster of a pro-Kremlin president in Kyiv, Putin has sought to justify his action by describing his neighbor as part of Russia’s sphere of influence where Western encroachment can’t be allowed.
Putin has argued that just as the U.S. would bristle at any foreign military presence in the Western Hemisphere, Russia sees NATO’s expansion to its borders as a major security threat. He cited Ukraine’s bid to join the military alliance as a key reason behind his full-scale invasion of the country.
