While the global attention is focused on the US amid the unrest in Iran and the recent capture of the Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Russian President Vladimir Putin is maintaining a strategic silence. His apathy is reportedly making his allies feel neglected, according to reports.
While the Russian President is yet to react to the unrest in Iran, one of Russia’s close allies, his inattention to Maduro’s fate has also made Venezuelan officials realise that their years-long security relationship with Moscow was a paper tiger.
Almost 10 days since the US capture of Maduro, the state security apparatus of the country conducted a post-mortem on how their leader was captured by the US, reported Bloomberg, adding that the officials “privately expressed dismay at the failure of their Cuban and Russian partners to help protect him”.
The officials believe that Russian intelligence agencies, which they relied on, did not identify vulnerabilities or provide any specific information about the threat to Maduro despite repeated public signals from Trump.
The Venezuelan officials are also disappointed at how Russia’s S-300 and Buk-M2 air-defense systems failed to protect Venezuela’s airspace. Russia did not give adequate technical support to ensure the systems were operationally effective, the officials complained, adding that the Russian cyber defenses were not rendered useless when the US cut off power to large areas of Caracas when they took Maduro.
The turn of events caused the breakdown in trust in the security partnership between Venezuela, Cuba, and Russia, Bloomberg added.
Though the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a fairly formal statement condemning the “violation of key principles of international law”, Vladimir Putin did not publicly comment on the US actions. Despite being angry at the US actions, Russia now considers its relations with the US more important than Venezuela, Bloomberg quoted a separate person familiar with the Kremlin’s position.
‘A paper tiger’: Venezuela dismayed as Russian support crumbles
