President NicolĂĄs Maduro speaking during the Con Maduro+ program. Photo: Venezuela's Presidential press.
Venezuelan President NicolĂĄs Maduro returned to Venezuela after his official visit to the Russian Federation and resumed his program Con Maduro+, where he praised the events celebrating the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. He criticized his European counterparts, some of whom went to Ukraine in order to promote war against Russia from there.
“They made a fool of themselves,” said President Maduro. “They went to celebrate war, to call for sanctions. They went to celebrate in the world capital of Nazi-fascism in the 21st century,” said the president.
President Maduro was referring to the ultimatum issued by the so-called Coalition of the Willing formed by Friedrich Merz, Germany’s chancellor; Emmanuel Macron of France; Volodymyr Zelensky; Keir Starmer of the UK; and Donald Tusk of Poland. With the backing of Donald Trump and the US, from Kiev, they issued an ultimatum to Russia, demanding that it immediately implement a 30-day ceasefire or face “massive” sanctions.
The head of state questioned why presidents like French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz were willing to celebrate the defeat of Nazi Germany by supporting a fascist regime such as Ukraine’s and “encouraging war.”
“What do the people of France think?” asked President Maduro. “Do they agree with Macron? Do they want to go to war against the Russian people? What do the British people and the German people think?”
In this regard, he said that “the future of humanity is not another war with millions of deaths. I am sure that the people of Europe will take to the streets sooner rather than later, demanding peace, agreements, and dialogue.”
âItâs a shame that the way these countries were liberated by the Red Army would lead to more war,â said President Maduro. He stated that despite attempts to minimize and sabotage the Victory Day celebrations in Russia, they could not overshadow the brilliance of a celebration that was held in style.
âThey could do little to hide the truth⌠they couldn’t stop the 80th anniversary celebration in Moscow, despite Zelensky’s Nazi threats,â he emphasized.
Visit to Russia was a resounding success
President Maduro reviewed his busy schedule in the Russian Federation, during which he held various engagements with world leaders who are friends of Venezuela.
He began by recalling his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 7. At that meeting, a strategic treaty was signed and bilateral relations with the Russian Federation were elevated to the highest level.
That same day, he met with Ramzan Kadyrov, head of Russia’s Chechen Republic. âWe strengthened the ties of friendship and cooperation between Venezuela and Chechnya,” said President Maduro. “We emphasized the importance of consolidating a multipolar world based on equality and respect between countries. We also reject any acts of external interference, particularly by the United States government.”
Later, on May 8, President Maduro met with his Cuban counterpart Miguel DĂaz-Canel, with whom he paid tribute to the founding father of the nation, SimĂłn BolĂvar, in BolĂvar Square in Moscow. âThat meeting ended with a working lunch where we discussed regional issues: ALBA as the main bastion of the original struggle of the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean and the challenges we will have to address together,â said President Maduro.
On the same day, President Maduro met with a delegation from Kazakhstan. They discussed key areas such as energy, trade, finance, and security.
âThis is a key moment from the perspective of oil-exporting countries, and we addressed this topic in the meeting with the president of Kazakhstan,” recalled President Maduro. “Regarding the good performance of OPEC and OPEC Plus since the 2015 crisis,” he said, “maintaining the price of a barrel so that it is fair and no one loses, so that global energy security is guaranteed, is the key to success.”
Meeting with African and Orthodox Church Leaders
In an intense day, the Venezuelan president met with his Burkinabe counterpart, Ibrahim TraorĂŠ, with whom he deepened southâsouth cooperation. “It was very moving for me to meet this young African fighter, Captain TraorĂŠ,” said President Maduro. “He reminded me of when I first visited ChĂĄvez and saw a kind certainty in his eyes.”
Venezuela’s head of state expressed criticism of how “21st-century Europe has not ceased to be greedy and cruel toward the countries it once enslaved with the whip; its racist and colonial stance persists, generating misery and backwardness… They prepare public opinion to blame the immigrant, but they hide the fact that the cause of this migration lies in the plundering that takes place daily in Mother Africa,” said the president, while wishing President TraorĂŠ much success in his “liberation process for the people of Burkina Faso.”
At the end of the day, he met with the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, with whom he shares a deep affection for faith and spiritual steadfastness. “The patriarch is a scholar and is right when he says that, from the Napoleonic wars through the first and second world wars, and up to the present day, what the West has unfortunately maintained as an obsession is Russophobia,” noted President Maduro.
Victory Day and meeting with Xi Jinping
President Maduro described May 9, Victory Day, as a majestic event to honor the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War.
It has been 80 years since “That glorious day in 1945, when the flags of freedom waved in Berlin, carried by the sacrifice of millions of men and women who confronted and defeated the most brutal extermination machine that ever existed: the Nazi-fascist regime,” he recalled.
President Maduro said that in the face of attempts to distort historical truth, the weight of memory prevailed, recalling the sacrifice of the Soviet people to end Nazism. “Today, we uphold that historical truth with pride and respect in the face of cynical attempts at distortion that seek to minimizeâor hideâthe role of the USSR in that victory,” he said.
“We cannot remain silent when they try to erase the memory of the people. The fight against fascism is ongoing. And today more than ever, it is a task for all free peoples,â he commented.
At the end of the majestic parade, President Maduro held a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping which he described as a special fraternal encounter.
âWe reviewed all the strategic issues on the agenda: economy, defense, technology, shared social development, among other points,” recounted President Maduro. “President Xi Jinping ratified China’s full support for Venezuela in the development of the 7T plan, and we will work on three specific fronts: close relations between the parties, practical cooperation between both nations in the face of difficulties, and cooperation on the multilateral front.”
âIn short, we updated our work agenda and our strategies to accelerate shared development projects,â added the president.
Visit to St. Petersburg
While in Russia, President Maduro traveled by train to St. Petersburg, a city where great Russian leaders were born. Once there, he visited the Piskarovskoye Memorial Cemetery, where he laid a wreath at the Mother of God monument.
âIf there is a city that is legendary in the world, it is Leningrad, now St. Petersburg, which suffered for more than two years under a state of siege imposed by the Nazis, supported by the Finns, to kill this emblematic city with hunger, thirst, and cold,â recalled President Maduro.
Later, he visited the Peter and Paul Fortress, as well as the seat of government in St. Petersburg, V.I. Lenin’s first office. âPersonally, I was moved that the first Soviet government was held in a modest office in an area that the Tsars designated for training young women in all arts and crafts,â said President Maduro.
