The capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, initiated by US President Donald Trump, could prove to be a major blow to the Kremlin’s self-confidence, writes Politico.
In carrying out a lightning operation in Venezuela, the White House has shown that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s self-proclaimed multifaceted, anti-Western alliance of dictators is in fact completely toothless. One of the humiliations for Putin is that the whole world is watching him as an unreliable ally, as it has been in Nagorno-Karabakh, Syria and Iran. Now, this is compounded by the insulting realization that Trump has proven more capable of the kind of show of force that the Kremlin always dreams of.
Putin has been outdone in his belief that he is the law. While the Russian dictator would have been delighted to capture Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky using a similar trick, he instead launched a brutal war that has lasted four years and killed more than a million Russians.
Former Kremlin speechwriter and political analyst Abbas Gallyamov told Politico that Putin likely harbors deep resentment toward Trump, because what the Russians promised to do in Ukraine, the Americans did in Venezuela in half an hour. That Russia has lost its posture is now one of the few things that both independent experts and Russian ultranationalists agree on.
For years, Russia has sought to present itself as the main force standing up to American-led Western hegemony,
leading an alliance that is essentially united only by the idea that Washington is a common enemy. Moscow has seen itself as the guardian of all in that alliance. In February 2022, when it invaded Ukraine, Russia called on its allies to provide support. To a large extent, the call was heeded. Iran sold the Russians drones, China and India bought oil. Latin American and African countries have expressed their support more in words, thus allowing Russia to maintain the idea that it is not an outcast in the international arena. However, recent events show that the “friendship” works only in one direction, and Russia is in no hurry to help.
The first to realize that allying with Russia was a waste of time was Armenia. Busy fighting in Ukraine, Moscow did nothing when Azerbaijan seized the ethnic Armenian-populated Nagorno-Karabakh in 2023, and Russian peacekeepers only watched the events unfold. A year later, Russia was in no hurry to save the collapsing Assad regime in Syria. When the US and Israel bombed Moscow’s ally Iran, there was no help. Now Venezuela has suffered defeat, and Moscow has only contemptuously condemned the US actions.
Maduro’s arrest is particularly unpleasant for the Russians, because in the past they have tried to bring the leaders of countries friendly to them to safety. While former Ukrainian leader Viktor Yanukovych and Syrian Assad have comfortably settled in Moscow, Maduro appeared before a court in New York on the 5th of January.
Of course, Russian officials have condemned the American attack,
and the Russian Foreign Ministry has stated that it was an offense against a sovereign and independent state, and MP Alexei Puskov said that Trump’s actions are a return to the savage imperialism of the 19th century. Ironically, the Russians are doing exactly the same thing in Ukraine.
Russia has also been doing its usual saber rattling about the possible delivery of nuclear weapons to Venezuela.
Other Russian officials have suggested that Trump’s actions in Caracas show that international law no longer applies, and thus the Kremlin’s actions are justified. Still others say that since Trump has brought the Monroe Doctrine to light, he will focus on taking control of America, thereby leaving Europe and Central Asia in Russia’s sphere of interest.
Putin has for years followed a model of action that measures greatness by the use of brute force. Only this time he has fallen into disgrace, because Trump has acted more successfully within this model, and it seems that the main emotion among Russian ultranationalists is veiled and open envy. The influential ultranationalist Alexander Dugin wrote that all of Russia is asking why the fight against enemies is not carried out in a similar way. He called for following Trump’s example, but doing it faster and better. Kremlin voice Margaritya Simonyan was more direct, saying there was reason to be jealous. Pro-Kremlin commentators have also sourly acknowledged that the United States is unlikely to face international sanctions.
Gallyamov noted that for many Russians, Trump’s actions will be a confirmation of their worldview, not a challenge. Russian officials and public media have long emphasized that the world is ruled by force, not law. The irony lies in the fact that Trump apparently knows the law of the jungle better than Putin.
Read also: Right action or unwanted precedent: what will the US action in Venezuela bring for the world?
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