Key Points of Russian FM Lavrov's Venezuela Tour

By Misión Verdad – April 19, 2023

The foreign affairs minister of the Russian Federation, Sergey Lavrov, visited Caracas on April 18 as part of a tour of Latin America. Coming from Brazil, Lavrov held meetings with Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez and Foreign Minister Yván Gil. He later held a meeting with President Nicolás Maduro, 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,” Lavrov told Maduro during their meeting. “He asked me to give you 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 their meeting at the Miraflores Palace, the seat of the presidency of Venezuela. In that meeting, they reviewed bilateral political and trade cooperation issues. President Maduro stressed that he knows how “fruitful” Lavrov’s work was in Brazil and Venezuela. “We will move forward in working on issues that unite us,” he told the Russian foreign minister.

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

The Russian foreign minister, who traveled to Cuba and Nicaragua after visitng Venezuela, also highlighted Venezuela’s position in the current geopolitical events.

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

“Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua are among the countries in the Latin American region that choose their own path, are proud of their historical memory, and do not want to be dependant on anyone again,” he added.

“Both Russia and Venezuela defend the right of peoples to determine their own future, their own 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,” stressed Lavrov.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Meets With President Maduro in Caracas (+Bolivia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines)

Strategic association
Lavrov and his Venezuelan counterpart, Yvan Gil, highlighted the following points during their joint press conference:

Practical steps were agreed upon to expand bilateral trade and investment cooperation, as well as to intensify contacts among business circles. In addition, numerous projects were decided to be developed in oil production, gas field administration, agriculture, medicine and pharmaceuticals, communications, space activities, and new technologies.
Russia decided to double the number of scholarships granted to Venezuelan students for the academic year 2023-2024. The number of scholarships was raised from 100 to 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 its special military operation in eastern Ukraine. Venezuela is also out of the SWIFT platform due to the US sanctions.
In this regard, Venezuelan 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 transition to a system that frees us from the hegemonic dollar as the regulator of commercial transactions.”
Gil 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 banking system, which “will allow Russian tourists to spend in Venezuela through a direct system, without going through transnational companies.”
Regarding alternative financial transaction systems, 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.”

Russia’s FM Lavrov Meets With Venezuela’s VP Rodriguez and FM Gil in Caracas

A growing alliance
The relationship between Russia and Venezuela is growing all the time. More than a commercial nexus, the link is an example of how certain countries can participate from a multipolar approach, in a context of the emergence of alternatives to the hegemonic dominance of the United States in Latin America. In December 2022, Venezuela and Russia signed 11 cooperation agreements in Caracas, covering health, energy, maritime transport, and anti-narcotrafficking policies, for the next decade. The high-level delegation to Venezuela was headed by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak.

Russia supported Venezuela during the COVID-19 pandemic with a constant supply of Sputnik-V vaccine, which almost reached 20 million doses. It also provided medical supplies and equipment.

On March 14, 2023, the two countries celebrated the 78th anniversary of their diplomatic relations, established in 1945. In 2005, when Dmitri Medvedev and Hugo Chávez were the presidents of Russia and Venezuela respectively, the two countries signed various agreements for the purchase of military equipment. Military cooperation was accelerated due to the US sanctions on the sale of military spare parts to Venezuela, particularly of F-16 aircrafts, and the blocking of the sale of coastal surveillance boats with US-made devices.

Since 2005, Venezuela has purchased 24 Russian Sukhoi Su-30Mk2 fighter planes to replace the F-16s; 100,000 AK-103 Kalashnikov rifles, S-300 anti-missile systems, 50 helicopters, and, since 2009, tanks. In 2008, the two countries carried out joint naval maneuvers (Operation VENRUS 2008) at 20-50 miles off the Venezuelan coasts, with the participation of Russian naval ships Peter the Great and Admiral Chabanenko, together with Venezuelan frigates.

In 2008, Russian state oil giant Gazprom and Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA signed agreements for exploration in the Orinoco Belt, while Rosneft and Lukoil participated in the natural gas fields and the exploration and extraction of crude oil in the offshore platform of the Orinoco Delta. From 2013, Russian participation in oil exploration in the Orinoco Oil Belt increased, for which joint ventures such as Boquerón, Petroperijá, and Petromonagas were created. However, these projects were hit with sanctions imposed by the Trump administration.

In association with majority shareholder PDVSA, 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 15th High Level Intergovernmental Commission (CIAN). These agreements are in addition to the 264 existing agreements in 20 strategic areas that had been signed in the last 20 years.

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

During the governments of Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela, in terms of international policy, has maintained a position that defends multipolarity and the emergence of multilateral platforms in the Latin American region and in the world, including the blocs CELAC and BRICS, as opposed to the hegemonic dominance—currently in decline—of the United States.

At the United Nations Security Council, Russia has vetoed all possible foreign intervention in Venezuela promoted by the United States and its partners in the European Union and Latin America. This is a major sign of the importance of the Venezuela-Russia strategic alliance, reinforced by Lavrov’s visit to Venezuela.

(Misión Verdad)

Translation: Orinoco Tribune

OT/SC/AF