BOLIVIA, LATIN AMERICA, RUSSIA, ST VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES, VENEZUELA

An Increasingly Strategic Alliance: Key Points of Lavrov’s Visit to Venezuela

Posted by Internationalist 360° on

Misión Verdad

“We will move forward in working on issues that unite us,” President Maduro told the Russian diplomat.

On Tuesday, April 18, the Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation, Sergey Lavrov, visited Caracas as part of a tour of Latin America. Coming from Brazil, the diplomat held meetings with Executive Vice-President Delcy Rodríguez Gómez and Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil. He later held a meeting with President Nicolás Maduro Moros, with whom he reaffirmed the ties between Russia and Venezuela.

“I want to convey to you a message from the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin. He also asked me to convey to you verbally his best wishes and greetings. You have his invitation to visit Russia at any convenient time.”

These were Lavrov’s words to the Venezuelan president during the meeting at the Miraflores Palace in which they reviewed issues on bilateral political and trade cooperation. For his part, the Venezuelan president stressed that he knows how “fruitful” Lavrov’s work was in Brazil and now in Venezuela. “We will move forward in working on issues that unite us,” he told the Russian diplomat.

Among other appreciations, Lavrov noted:

“Venezuela is one of Russia’s most reliable partners. Our states are linked by a close strategic partnership, based on conceptual proximity of approaches to the main issues of the global agenda, mutually beneficial projects, strong ties of friendship and mutual sympathy between peoples.”

The head of Russian diplomacy, who will continue his tour via Cuba and Nicaragua, stressed Venezuela’s position in the face of the current geopolitical events:

“We will do everything possible to make Venezuela’s economy less and less dependent on the whims and geopolitical games of the United States or any other actor in the Western camp.”

“Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua are among the countries in the Latin American region that choose their own path, proudly carry the memory of their history and do not want to depend on anyone again.”

“Both countries stand for the defense of the right of peoples to determine their own future, their destiny, without external interference, without dictates or blackmail and without attempts to influence them through the illegal unilateral restrictive measures now practiced by the collective West.”

FOR A STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP

During the press conference between the Russian foreign minister and his Venezuelan counterpart the following results were shared:

Practical steps were agreed upon to expand trade and investment cooperation, as well as to intensify contacts between business circles. In addition, numerous projects will be developed in oil production, gas field management, agriculture, medicine and pharmaceuticals, communications, space activities and new technologies.

It was decided to double the number of scholarships granted to Venezuelan citizens for the next academic year 2023-2024 to implement 200.

The central banks of Venezuela and Russia are working on the creation of a new financial system, an alternative to the global SWIFT platform, which expelled Russian banks in 2022 due to the Special Military Operation in Eastern Ukraine.

In this regard, Foreign Minister Gil stated: “The technical teams of the Central Bank of Venezuela and the Russian bank (…) are working (on) the exchange of financial messaging to go to a system that frees us from the hegemonic dollar as the regulator of commercial transactions”.

The Venezuelan diplomat said that there have been “advances” in this system, an issue that the banks of both countries “have been working on” to create “that alternative to the SWIFT International company”.

Progress is being made in the implementation of the Mir card, a payment mechanism connected to the Russian national system, which “will allow Russian tourists to consume in Venezuela under a direct system without going through the large transnational companies”.

The illegal “sanctions” of the West have changed a bit the international scope of the Russian payment system Mir, however, countries interested in implementing it continue to join. https://t.co/ope4VRsNLi
– MV (@Mission_Truth) October 28, 2022

Regarding alternative financial exchange measures, Chancellor Gil stated:

“That is well underway and will be part of the discussions we will have at the high-level intergovernmental commission to be held in the coming weeks in Russia. We will soon give good news to both the people of Russia and the people of Venezuela”.

A GROWING PARTNERSHIP

The relationship between Russia and Venezuela has become a close alliance. More than a commercial nexus, the link is an example of how certain countries could participate from a multipolar approach, in a context of the emergence of alternatives to the hegemonic dominance of the United States in Latin America. Last December, 11 cooperation agreements were signed in Caracas in the areas of health, energy, maritime transport and anti-drugs, among others, for the next decade. The high-level meeting was attended by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak.

Russia supported Venezuela during the global pandemic with a permanent supply of Sputnik V anti-virus vaccines, which almost reached 20 million doses. It also provided medical supplies and equipment.

Last March 14, both countries celebrated the 78th anniversary of their diplomatic relations, established in 1945. Since 2005, under the respective presidencies of Dmitri Medvedev and Hugo Chavez, agreements were signed for the purchase of military equipment. Military cooperation was accelerated due to the veto by the United States for the sale of military spare parts to Venezuela, particularly of F16 aircrafts, and the blocking of the sale of coastal surveillance boats with U.S.-made devices.

Since 2005 Venezuela has  purchased  24 Russian Sukhoi Su-30Mk2 Sukhoi fighter planes to replace the F16; 100,000 AK-103 Kalashnikov rifles, S-300 anti-missile systems, 50 helicopters and, in 2009, tanks. In 2008, both countries carried out naval maneuvers (combined operation Venrus 2008) at a distance of 20 to 50 miles off the Venezuelan coasts, with the participation of Russian ships such as the “Peter the Great” and the “Admiral Chabanenko”, together with Venezuelan frigates.

Military cooperation has been key in the alliance between Venezuela and Russia (Photo: Archive).

At the end of 2008, agreements were signed in the Orinoco Belt between Gazprom and PDVSA, while Rosneft and Lukoil participated in the gas area and the exploration and exploitation of crude oil in the submarine platform of the Orinoco Delta. As of 2013, Russian participation in oil exploration in the Orinoco Oil Belt increased, for which joint ventures such as Boquerón, Petroperijá and Petromonagas were created. This changed with the “sanctions” applied by Donald Trump’s administration.

Associated with PDVSA -majority shareholder-, Rosneft holds 49.9% of the shares of the Citgo refinery complex, seized by Washington. These shares represented a guarantee of payments to Russia.

In October 2021 Caracas and Moscow signed agreements on energy cooperation, finance, culture, sports, health, tourism and communication, as part of the XV High Level Intergovernmental Commission (CIAN). These agreements are in addition to the 264 reached in 20 strategic areas that had been signed in the last 20 years.

In December 2021, the National Assembly approved a law ratifying the space exploration agreement with Russia, a country that did the same in 2022 after renouncing the International Space Station (ISS),  a symbol of cooperation with the West for more than 20 years.

During the governments of Presidents Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela has maintained a position, in terms of international policy, that defends multipolarity and the emergence of multilateral platforms in the region and in the world, such as Celac and Brics respectively, as opposed to the hegemonic dominance -currently in decline- played by the United States.

Russia has vetoed before the United Nations Security Council any possible foreign intervention in Venezuela promoted by the United States and its partners in the European Union and the Latin American region, a sign of the importance for our respective countries of the strategic alliance confirmed by Lavrov’s visit to Caracas.

Translation by Internationalist 360°

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