Russian Involvement in Venezuela

With the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, Russia has continued to support the country through the economic, military, and financial clouts in a bid to gain great power. This paper summarizes Russia’s involvement in Venezuela, shading light on why and how Russia is doing it when most other countries have tightened economic sanctions with Venezuela. Additionally, it will explain why such involvement is a threat to national security.

While the Russian government continues to face isolation from the United States and other countries, Russia remains one of its allies. As the United States enhances its harsh economic sanctions on Venezuela, Russia is busy involving itself with Venezuela through military, economic, and financial support. However, the support is not genuine as Russia wants to be a beneficiary of its involvement in Venezuela.

However, the Russian involvement in Venezuela is not supported. Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, favors and supports the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro. Maduro was re-elected in 2018 against most of the Venezuelans will. His regime has left Venezuela in the midst of a humanitarian crisis, where thousands of people live in extreme poverty, with some fleeing the country (O’Neil & Angelo, 2022). Russia is involved with the Venezuelan government in different ways.

Firstly, it has invested in Venezuela and offered the country a sizeable loan. As of July 2019, Venezuela owed Russia $10 billion for 36 Russian fighter jets, $11 billion for Rosneft investment, and $4 billion for Russia’s investment in Venezuela (Herbst & Marczak, 2019). Besides, Russia continues to be involved by selling military equipment and military advisors. The military equipment and advisors help president Maduro secure his presidential seat against the will of Venezuelans. This way, Russia continues to grow the humanitarian crisis facing Venezuela because it supports the lousy leadership. Besides, sending military equipment worsens the condition by creating an environment for war. Russia is doing all these because it has a political interest in Venezuela, and eventually to the whole world, securing its economic investments in Venezuela (Herbst & Marczak, 2019).

Russia’s involvement in Venezuela is a great threat to national security due to several reasons. Firstly, if Russia gets a stake in Venezuela’s political system, it can gain great power in the international arena. Based on a source, Russia wants to use Venezuela to get the power to influence global issues (Goldwyn & Clabough, 2020). It means that it could restore colonialism in many countries. Secondly, it could be a spoiler to the United States through Venezuela. Through Venezuela, Russia can undercut US interests and sustain its arbiter role in matters such as international security.

Thirdly, Russia could overthrow legitimate and democratic governments worldwide for it to remain corruptive and undemocratic. During Putin’s first days in office as a president, he had a foreign policy vision that he wanted to impose on the world (Herbst & Marczak, 2019). Through Venezuela, Moscow could have access to Washington, posing a threat to US security. Lastly, when Venezuela is affected, it becomes a national crisis. The threat comes in when it cannot pay Russia its debt, its economy goes down, the citizens suffer, and the humanitarian crisis increases. Seeing people die because of a lack of food, medical care, and other vital services is a national crisis that could disturb national security. Russia’s involvement comes in when it offers a lot of debts to the country, and it is unable to pay off, causing an economic crisis.

In summary, Russia’s involvement in Venezuela is being fueled by the military, economic, and financial support that Venezuela is receiving from Russia. Russia supports Maduro, who has caused the country to suffer the greatest humanitarian crisis, including lacking basic needs. The main agenda for Russia is to preserve its huge investments in Russia by supporting Maduro through military equipment and advisors. However, such involvement is a threat to national security. If Russia gets access to Venezuela, it could gain great power in the national arena, affecting the USA and other countries.

References

Goldwyn, D. L., & Clabough, A. (2020, April 20). Containing Russian influence in Venezuela. Atlantic Council. https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/energysource/containing-russian-influence-in-venezuela/#:~:text=

Herbst, J. E., & Marczak, J. (2019, September 12). Russia’s intervention in Venezuela: What’s at stake? Atlantic Council. https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/in-depth-research-reports/report/russias-intervention-in-venezuela-whats-at-stake/ O’Neil, S. K., & Angelo, P. J. (2022, January 18). Instability in Venezuela. Global Conflict Trac