Putin offers 'solidarity' for Venezuelan people as tensions mount between Maduro and US

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MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed “solidarity with the Venezuelan people" on Thursday amid growing tensions between Venezuela's leader, Nicolás Maduro, and the Trump administration.

The Kremlin said in a statement that Putin spoke with Maduro by phone and reaffirmed his support for Venezuelan leader's policy of “protecting national interests and sovereignty in the face of growing external pressure.”

The call comes a day after American forces seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, the latest tactic from U.S. President Donald Trump's administration to ramp up pressure on Maduro, who has been charged with narcoterrorism in the United States.

During testimony before Congress on Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem linked the seizure of the vessel to the Trump administration’s anti-drug efforts in the region. The U.S. has built up its largest military presence in the region in decades and launched a series of deadly strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats.

Maduro has insisted the real purpose of the U.S. military operations is to force him from office. Venezuela’s government said the tanker seizure “constitutes a blatant theft and an act of international piracy.”

The South American country's government said that Putin had “categorically reaffirmed his support” for Maduro in their call.

It said in a statement that Putin had told Maduro that direct communication between Moscow and Caracas would “remain permanently open” and Russia would continue to support Venezuela “in its struggle to assert its sovereignty, international law, and peace throughout Latin America.”

Like his predecessor, the late President Hugo Chávez, Maduro has forged a close relationship with Russia, which has offered Venezuela help, ranging from coronavirus vaccines to the design of a cryptocurrency. In 2018, it also briefly dispatched a pair of nuclear-capable Tu-160 bombers to the airport outside Venezuela’s capital amid soaring Russia-U.S. tensions.

Last year, two Russian naval ships docked in the Venezuelan port of La Guaira after exercises in the Atlantic Ocean that Moscow said were to “show the flag” in remote, important regions.

In Belarus, authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, a Putin ally, met with the Venezuelan ambassador to Russia, Jesus Rafael Salazar Velázquez, on Thursday, for the second time in just over two weeks.

Details of what was discussed were not revealed, but Belarus' state news agency Belta quoted Lukashenko as saying that the diplomat was expected to discuss “certain issues” with Maduro after their first meeting on Nov. 25 and to travel to Belarus again, so that they could reach “a certain decision.”

During the November meeting, Lukashenko extended an invitation to Maduro to visit Belarus, and said that he would try and find the time to visit Venezuela, too.