Russian officials indicated in 2019 that the Kremlin would be willing to back off from its support for Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela in exchange for a free hand in Ukraine, according to Fiona Hill, an adviser to President Donald Trump at the time.
The Russians repeatedly floated the idea of a “very strange swap arrangement between Venezuela and Ukraine,” Hill said during a congressional hearing in 2019. Her comments surfaced again this week and were shared on social media after the U.S. stealth operation to capture Maduro.
Hill said Russia pushed the idea through articles in Russian media that referenced the Monroe Doctrine — a 19th century principle in which the U.S. opposed European meddling in the Western Hemisphere and in return agreed to stay out of European affairs. It was invoked by Trump to justify the U.S. intervention in Venezuela.
Fiona is rarely wrong.
When she speaks, YOU SHOULD LISTEN!
Generally true, but also, this was testimony from 7 years ago.
It seems a little bit unlikely that Russia would be in favor of this Venezuela thing (simply because they like Maduro), and also, Putin was making performative gestures of support for Maduro up until the invasion (not that it did either of them any good).
Also:
Trump’s actions in Venezuela make it harder for Kyiv’s allies to condemn Russia’s designs on Ukraine as “illegitimate” because “we’ve just had a situation where the U.S. has taken over — or at least decapitated the government of another country — using fiction,” Hill told AP.
I honestly don’t think there is any danger that this will set a precedent of any kind of legitimacy. I think it’s more likely to galvanize opposition to this kind of land-grab than it is to get people to regard it as normal.
If you go back to when trump 2.0 started talking about Venezuela it was the day after meeting with Putin in Alaska
They are treating these countries like trading cards
