Venezuela is moving the headquarters of its state oil company from Lisbon to Moscow, the country’s vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, announced Friday.
“We are going to make industrial investments to produce everything we need in our country with the Russian Federation’s help,” Nicolas Maduro’s second-in-command said at a press conference in Moscow with Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov. “We are strategic partners.”
Russia continues to be one of the key allies of the embattled Maduro dictatorship, offering humanitarian assistance and a massive line of credit for a governmental infrastructure struggling to stay afloat, purchasing petroleum amid U.S. sanctions, and now serving as an asset haven for Venezuelan operatives.
“We will continue strengthening our relations with Russia. We will expand our trade opportunities and launch new mechanisms. President Nicolas Maduro has given clear instructions. We will purchase products and medicines that our people need from Russia,” Rodriguez added. “On December 5 last year, Maduro held an official visit to Russia, and new agreements were signed. Now we are preparing to expand our cooperation, [to sign] new agreements and to implement the existing 264 deals.”
The move from Portugal to Russia is part of Venezuela’s strategy to maneuver through waves of international sanctions imposed its key industries and top-level officials. International banking systems have already begun to show reluctance in handling Venezuelan accounts. Rodriguez pointed to the Bank of England’s refusal to unfreeze Venezuelan assets as the signal that Europe will abide by the standards set by the United States.
The U.S. Treasury Department issued a new wave of sanctions against members of Maduro’s inner circle Friday.
The White House has been relying on diplomatic tactics to weaken the Maduro regime and allow for a peaceful transition to democracy, an effort being led by the U.S.-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido. More than 100 members of the Venezuelan armed forces have defected into Colombia, and U.S. and allied officials have extended offers of political asylum to top-level officials who defect.
Kremlin spokesman Dymitry Peskov confirmed Friday that Russia will continue to pursue its strategic partnership with Venezuela.
“We’re interested in continuing cooperation with Venezuela, especially since many of our companies are working on quite big projects there,” said Peskov. “We hope that these projects have good prospects, that there are prospects to expand them, and of course we hope our Venezuelan partners can overcome the internal political and economic difficulties they are facing as soon as possible.”
Russia’s continued support of Maduro as U.S. sanctions intensify is opening a new sphere-of-influence battle between the United States and Russia. The Russians have invested billions in Venezuela since Hugo Chavez’s rise in the 1990s, and with the tanking of the Venezuelan currency, the Kremlin has counted on Venezuela’s crude oil as substitute debt payments. If Maduro falls, there is no guarantee Russian-owned debt will be repaid, and the Russian economy is already reeling thanks to U.S. and EU sanctions placed on that country after it annexed Crimea in 2014.
Venezuela is also one of the largest clients of Russian-owned defense industries, buying everything from tens of thousands of rifles to bigger systems including helicopters and military aircraft. The United States has long viewed the continued Russian presence in the hemisphere as a threat to regional stability. Venezuela has a history of using Russian-made military artillery to threaten U.S. allies like Colombia, and it’s allowed the Russian navy free and unrestricted access to its northern naval ports.
[Opinion: Trump in Venezuela is learning that regime change is hard]
