A decade ago, Venezuela’s ousted president Nicolás Maduro waved a Russian flag and brandished a replica of national hero Simón Bolívar’s sword as Igor Sechin, chief executive of Kremlin-run oil company Rosneft, beamed approvingly.
But after US special forces captured Maduro and his wife last week, Moscow has conspicuously failed to ride to the defence of a country with which it signed a vague “strategic partnership” in November.
In the raid, US helicopters appeared to bypass with ease Venezuela’s extensive network of Russian-supplied air defences, including the advanced S-300, Buk, and Pantsir systems. When the US on Wednesday then seized two tankers accused of shipping or trying to ship Venezuelan oil and flying Russian flags for protection, Moscow’s protests were muted.