Russian officials indicated in 2019 that the Kremlin would be willing to back off from its support for Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela in exchange for a free hand in Ukraine, according to Fiona Hill, a former adviser to President Donald Trump. Hill said during a 2019 congressional hearing that the Russians repeatedly floated the idea of a “very strange swap arrangement between Venezuela and Ukraine.”
Hill’s remarks have resurfaced and gained traction on social media following the recent U.S. stealth operation to capture Maduro . She said Russia pushed the idea through articles in Russian media that referenced the Monroe Doctrine — a 19th-century principle in which the U.S. opposed European meddling in the Western Hemisphere in exchange for staying out of European affairs. Trump invoked the doctrine to justify the U.S. intervention in Venezuela.
Russian ambassador hinted at deal, but U.S. showed no interest
Although Russian officials never made a formal offer, Moscow’s then-ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, hinted many times to Hill that Russia was willing to allow the United States to act as it wished in Venezuela if the U.S. did the same for Russia in Europe, she told The Associated Press this week.
“Before there was a ‘hint hint, nudge nudge, wink wink, how about doing a deal?’ But nobody (in the U.S.) was interested then,” Hill said.
Hill delivered message to Moscow: ‘Ukraine and Venezuela are not related’
In April 2019, Trump dispatched Hill — then his senior adviser on Russia and Europe — to Moscow to deliver the message that “Ukraine and Venezuela are not related to each other.”
At that time, the White House was aligned with allies in recognising Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country’s interim president.
Fast forward seven years, and the situation has changed. After ousting Maduro, the U.S. has said it will now “run” Venezuela policy. Trump has also renewed his threat to take over Greenland — a self-governing territory of Denmark and part of the NATO military alliance — and threatened military action against Colombia for facilitating the global sale of cocaine.
Hill said the Kremlin will be “thrilled” with the idea that large countries — such as Russia, the United States, and China — get spheres of influence because it proves “might makes right.”
Trump’s actions in Venezuela make it harder to condemn Russia’s designs on Ukraine
Trump’s actions in Venezuela make it harder for Kyiv’s allies to condemn Russia’s designs on Ukraine as “illegitimate” because “we’ve just had a situation where the U.S. has taken over — or at least decapitated the government of another country — using fiction,” Hill told AP.
The Trump administration has described its raid in Venezuela as a law enforcement operation and has insisted that capturing Maduro was legal.
The Russian Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Hill’s account. While Russian President Vladimir Putin has not commented on the military operation to oust Maduro, the Foreign Ministry issued statements condemning U.S. “aggression.”