3 January 2026

The swift US operation against Venezuela, which culminated in the arrest of President Nicolás Maduro, sparked a wave of admiring comments from the pro-war z-community, despite the fact that Russia and Venezuela are bound by a strategic partnership agreement, which includes military-technical cooperation.

The attack, which lasted only 30 minutes and included a series of airstrikes and a CIA operation to capture and extract Maduro, is a “model SVO,” writes Military Informant.

“They arrived, did the job, and left,” he describes the situation: the US “cleared a corridor” for helicopters carrying special forces, destroying several targets in the country along the way, and then immediately left after capturing Maduro.

“But Putin could be kidnapped too,” worries the channel “Novorossiya Militia Reports.” “Two Majors” calls the US operation “smart,” “quick,” and “effective.” “Our SVO was probably planning it that way, too. It’s unlikely Gerasimov planned to fight for four years,” laments the channel.

“Some of the things the US did were exemplary,” writes Rybar. In 2022, the Russian army also attempted to seize Kyiv’s Gostomel airfield using airborne troops, and then similarly took the Antonov Bridge in Kherson to cross the Dnieper. However, “those tactical successes failed to translate into strategic ones,” Rybar notes.

“If we want to be like the Americans, we first need to understand what exactly we want and what we can actually achieve from it. Without sober analysis, there will be no sound conclusions, and without them, the same mistakes will happen,” the channel writes.

The operation against Venezuela, preceded by the deployment of the aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford, 11 warships, and 15,000 troops to the Caribbean, took place on the anniversary of the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama, which resulted in the arrest of Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega. Like Maduro, he was charged with drug trafficking. Noriega spent 20 years in a U.S. prison before being extradited to France, where he faced money laundering charges, and then to Panama on murder charges.

U.S. President Donald Trump gave the green light to the operation against Maduro several days ago, a source familiar with the situation told CNN. According to the source, Maduro was captured by U.S. Army Delta Force special forces, and the CIA located the ousted Venezuelan president after Trump authorized covert operations on Venezuelan soil.

https://ru.themoscowtimes.com/2026/01/03/tak-iputina-pohitit-mogut-z-voenkori-nazvali-etalonnoi-svo-operatsiyu-ssha-protiv-maduro-a184061