Kathrine Frich
As relations between Washington and Moscow grow increasingly strained, Russian officials are signalling a new challenge to the United States.
A senior figure in Russia’s parliament has suggested that Venezuela could soon receive Moscow’s most advanced weapons technology.
A new flashpoint
Alexei Zhuravlyov, deputy chairman of Russia’s parliamentary defence committee, told state media that Venezuela could be supplied with the latest missile system known as the Oreshnik.
“I see no obstacles to supplying a friendly country with new [weapon] developments such as the Oreshnik,” he said.
The Oreshnik, meaning “hazel tree” in Russian, is an intermediate-range ballistic missile capable of travelling at hypersonic speeds.
Moscow claims it cannot be intercepted and can carry both nuclear and conventional warheads.
Zhuravlyov added that Russia could also send Kalibr cruise missiles to Venezuela, saying “the Americans may be in for some surprises.”
The statement came as US military forces expand their presence in the Caribbean, a move observers have compared to the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
Trump accuses Maduro
US President Donald Trump has long accused Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro of supporting large-scale drug trafficking into the United States.
Washington has placed a fifty-million-dollar reward on his arrest and increased its military activity near Venezuelan waters.
Trump said last week that he was not planning an attack on Venezuela.
But Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov argued that the US build-up “is creating a situation of heightened tension, and no one but the United States itself is to blame.”
According to The Times, American air and sea strikes have already killed more than sixty people identified by Washington as smugglers.
Trump has also authorised the CIA to conduct covert operations inside Venezuela.
Maduro’s response
President Maduro, in turn, accused Trump of “fabricating a war” and said his government was in daily contact with Russian officials, including over military cooperation.
He claimed that the United States’ true objective was to seize Venezuela’s vast oil reserves.
Maduro said his forces had deployed around five thousand Russian-made Igla-S surface-to-air missiles “from the most remote mountain to the most remote village, to the most remote city.”
Earlier this year, Moscow and Caracas signed a strategic partnership on “military-technical cooperation.”
The agreement strengthens arms and training links between the two governments but does not include a mutual defence clause.
Growing Russian presence
The Oreshnik missile cited by Zhuravlyov was first used by Russia last year in a strike on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said it had a range of slightly more than three thousand miles.
A Russian Ilyushin Il-76 transport aircraft landed in Caracas late last month carrying an unknown cargo. The plane belonged to Aviacon Zitotrans, a Russian company already under US sanctions.
Russia also announced plans to open a Kalashnikov rifle factory in Maracay to arm Venezuela’s military and security services. Analysts believe, however, that President Vladimir Putin is unlikely to risk a direct confrontation with Washington while his forces remain engaged in Ukraine.
Crisis at home
Maduro’s rule, which began in 2013, has been marked by deep political division and accusations of corruption.
Amnesty International and other groups have reported human rights abuses and the suppression of dissent.
According to World Vision, more than 7.8 million Venezuelans have fled the country since 2014 amid food and medicine shortages.
Once one of Latin America’s richest countries, Venezuela’s economy collapsed after the fall in global oil prices, years of mismanagement and severe inflation.
Sources: The Times, Reuters, BBC, Express.co.uk
This article is made and published by Kathrine Frich, who may have used AI in the preparation
