3 January 2026
The fall of Nicolás Maduro, who was captured by US special forces and faces trial in New York on narco-terrorism charges, has left the fate of billions of dollars in investments and loans Venezuela received from Russia in limbo.
According to Reuters calculations , from 2006 to 2017, the Kremlin allocated a total of $17 billion to the Venezuelan government and the country’s state-owned oil company, PDVSA.
The first of these loans, $2.2 billion, went to Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chávez, who in 2009 signed a contract to purchase Russian weapons—T-72 tanks and S-300 anti-aircraft systems. Eight years later, Venezuela owed Moscow $3.5 billion, which it was unable to repay due to the economic crisis and sanctions. In 2017, Vladimir Putin and Maduro agreed to defer payments on this loan for 10 years, with the principal repaid in 2024-2027.
In the late 2010s, Rosneft became a major creditor to Maduro, receiving stakes in major Venezuelan oil projects in exchange. Maduro’s government used Russian funds to avoid defaulting on its debt, paying the Kremlin with oil, which Rosneft resold on the global market, sources told Reuters . In 2020, after sanctions were imposed on PDVSA, Rosneft sold all its assets in Venezuela to a specially created state-owned entity, Roszarubezhneft, which is wholly owned by the state.
Now the fate of Venezuela’s oil fields is in the hands of the Donald Trump administration, which has accused Venezuela of “stealing” oil from the United States. “We built the Venezuelan oil industry with American talent, drive, and skill, and a socialist regime stole it from us,” Trump declared. He added that the United States intends to rebuild Venezuelan infrastructure and “sell a lot of oil,” including to other countries.
Trump said there would be no problems with Russia over the operation in Venezuela, and he “never” discussed Maduro’s fate with Putin.
The swift US operation, which, according to the Associated Press, lasted only about half an hour, provoked a muted reaction in Moscow. The Foreign Ministry expressed “deep concern” over the American strikes on Venezuelan territory and “serious dismay” over reports of Maduro’s arrest. It also demanded the release of Maduro and his wife, Cecilia Flores, who face multiple life sentences in the US.
Putin, on the one hand, as a fellow authoritarian, identifies with Maduro—and in this sense, he is outraged and frightened. On the other hand, as the leader of a country aspiring to superpower status, Putin identifies with Trump—and in this regard, he is now terribly envious, argues political scientist Abbas Gallyamov.
“This will be a very difficult day for the leaders of the Russian security bloc. There will be a lot of cries of ‘Why can they do this and you can’t?’,” Gallyamov writes.
“The fall of Nicolás Maduro, who was captured by US special forces and faces trial in New York on narco-terrorism charges, has left the fate of billions of dollars in investments and loans Venezuela received from Russia in limbo.”
Not to mention what will happen to the oil markets. None of this spells good news for the mafia state.
And what happens when the other shithole Iran loses its inhumane mullah regime? Mafia land could be in for a big hurt in the near future.
I’d love to see Cuba to be bombed and returned to America. We can’t tolerate a hostile regime so close to Dixie!
Yeah, I wouldn’t mind that, either.
“This will be a very difficult day for the leaders of the Russian security bloc. There will be a lot of cries of ‘Why can they do this and you can’t?’,” Gallyamov writes.
It’s quite simple really. The US military is not run by potato generals.
And we don’t have stupid meat puppets in our ranks.