Русский
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro have signed a strategic partnership agreement to expand cooperation across key sectors, the Kremlin has announced.
The deal was sealed on Wednesday (May 7) in Moscow after talks between the two leaders. Maduro had arrived in the Russian capital to attend the May 9 Victory Day celebrations marking the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s defeat of Nazi Germany. As part of the agreement, Moscow and Caracas pledged to oppose unilateral sanctions, violations of the UN Charter, and what they called manifestations of neo-colonialism.
The document published on the Kremlin’s website also outlines plans for cooperation on global and regional security, counterterrorism, and sets a long-term course for deeper ties in areas including the economy, energy, investment, mineral extraction, transport, telecommunications, healthcare, and culture.
The Kremlin added that the talks between the two Presidents were very thorough and touched upon all spheres of cooperation, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying that “The talks were very thorough, both in the narrow format and the expanded format. They went over the entire agenda. Venezuela is our partner, and that is why there is cooperation in a number of areas. Specific cases were discussed: energy, oil affairs, projects related to various aspects of energy interaction, projects related to the establishment of production, with the activity of Russian companies in the Venezuelan market, with the interest of Russian companies in investments in Venezuela.”
According to the Kremlin, Russia and Venezuela are also to support Venezuela’s electric power industry to retrofit and enhance power generating capacities and the electricity transmission and distribution infrastructure.
To evade sanctions restrictions, they are also examining an alternative system of oil transportation insurance and international recognition of insurance services, an issue that may have major repercussions for the maritime insurance and reinsurance industries. Other targeted players may join in such a scheme.
Additional specific industry and infrastructure sectors were also mentioned, including in telecommunications, railway infrastructure, pharmaceuticals and epidemiology by supplying professional equipment, introducing advanced developments, technology transfer and the provision of related services. Moscow, it appears has significant investment plans for Venezuela.
However, the country has had a rough ride recently, with several countries, including Brazil, not recognising Maduro as the legitimate President, and substantial sanctions imposed by the United States. Brazil’s position has made Venezuelan efforts to join BRICS problematic.
However, Russia is going ahead with several key projects despite political pressure on Caracas. Russia is planning to open a ground station of its GLONASS satellite navigation system in Venezuela by July 5, Roscosmos’ general director Dmitry Bakanov has said. GLONASS will improve Venezuela’s GPS time-coordinates and accuracy characteristics globally and assist with navigation, communications and security.
Bilateral trade between Venezuela and Russia has been increasing, and reached about US$200 million in 2024, with Putin noting a 64% increase over the previous year. The two countries also signed new agreements in November 2024, covering energy cooperation and petroleum exploration. Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves, yet the product needs refining.
Russia has also diversified its range of exports to Venezuela by supplying high-tech goods (machine tools and equipment) and mineral products. The share of shipments of agricultural goods to the country also increased significantly. According to Q3 2024 results, Venezuela was the third importer of Russian wheat in Latin America.
A protocol on cooperation within the framework of the EAEU tariff preferences system was also signed. This will simplify customs procedures for the importation of Venezuelan goods to Russia that fall under the preferential regime of the EAEU (importation at 25% reduced customs duties) which will drive further growth of bilateral trade.
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