Vladimir Putin has offered his support to Venezuela amid growing tensions between Donald Trump‘s administration and the South American country’s leader, Nicolás Maduro. The Kremlin said in a statement that Putin spoke with Mr Maduro by phone and re-affirmed his support for the policy stand taken by the Venezuelan leader in the face of growing external pressure.
The call on Thursday (December 11) came a day after US forces seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela in the latest tactic from Mr Trump’s administration to ramp up pressure on Mr Maduro, who has been charged with narco-terrorism in the United States. Caracas said in a statement that Putin told Mr Maduro that direct communication between Russia and Venezuela would remain permanently open and the Kremlin would continue to support the country’s « struggle to assert its sovereignty, international law, and peace throughout Latin America ».
Mr Maduro has forged close ties with Russia, which has offered Venezuela help ranging from coronavirus vaccines to the design of a cryptocurrency.
In 2018, Russia also sent two nuclear-capable Tu-160 bombers to the airport outside Venezuela’s capital amid soaring Russia-US tensions.
Two Russian naval ships docked in the Venezuelan port of La Guairá last year after exercises in the Atlantic Ocean which Moscow said were to « show the flag » in remote, important regions.
Venezuela’s leader has insisted the real purpose of the recent US military operations is to force him from office.
His government said the tanker seizure « constitutes a blatant theft and an act of international piracy ».
US commandos seized the 332-meter (1,090-feet) ship, the Skipper, which was not where it had appeared to be navigating on ship-tracking platforms.
Instead it was some 360 nautical miles to the northwest, near the coast of Venezuela.
The seizure marked a dramatic escalation in Mr Trump’s campaign to pile pressure on Mr Maduro by cutting off access to oil revenues which have long been the lifeblood of the Venezuelan economy.
It could also signal a broader US campaign to clamp down on ships such as the Skipper, which experts and US officials say is part of a shadowy fleet of rusting oil tankers smuggling oil for countries facing stiff sanctions, such as Venezuela, Russia and Iran.
Michelle Weise Bockmann, a senior analyst at maritime intelligence firm Windward, said there are hundreds of flagless tankers which have been a lifeline for sanctioned oil revenues for regimes including Venezuela, Iran and Russia.
Since the first Trump administration imposed punishing oil sanctions on Venezuela in 2017, Mr Maduro’s government has relied on such oil tankers to smuggle crude into global supply chains.
The ships cloak their locations by altering their automated identification system — a mandatory safety feature intended to help avoid collisions.
They either go entirely dark or « spoof » their location to appear as if they are navigating miles away under a false flag or with fake registration information from another vessel.
Mr Maduro’s government has for the most part succeeded in using such tactics to get its oil to market.
The country’s oil production has increased about 25% in the last two years, according to OPEC data.
But experts say Wednesday’s seizure could mark a turning point, foreshadowing a possible oil blockade which could deter smuggling from even some of the shipping industry’s worst actors.
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