Putin Backs Venezuela With New Strategic Treaty as Washington Increases Pressure

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law a Strategic Partnership Treaty with Venezuela on Monday, formalizing a broad cooperation agreement between the two countries that extends across political, economic, and security domains.

The Kremlin said the treaty, first signed in Moscow on May 7, expands collaboration in energy, mining, transport, communications, and counterterrorism.

The accord was ratified last week by both chambers of Russia's parliament and earlier this month by the Venezuelan National Assembly, followed by President Nicolás Maduro's signature on October 7. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov called the simultaneous ratification "very important in the current situation," saying Venezuela faced "unprecedented pressure, including direct military pressure, from the United States," as EFE reports.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov echoed that stance during a meeting with Venezuela's ambassador to Moscow, Jesús Rafael Salazar Velázquez, reaffirming Russia's solidarity with Caracas "in the face of growing external threats and attempts at interference."

The agreement comes amid escalating U.S. military activity in the Caribbean. The Trump administration has expanded naval deployments under an anti-drug operation that has included several strikes on vessels near Venezuelan waters. Caracas has denounced the campaign as a pretext for regime change.

Venezuelan President Maduro recently claimed his government has "more than 5,000" Russian-made Igla-S surface-to-air missiles positioned across the country to defend against "growing military threats from the U.S." In a televised address, he warned that the nation's defenses were prepared "from the last mountain to the last city," describing the missiles as "one of the most powerful weapons that exist."

Russian officials have accused Washington of destabilizing the region. In early October Lavrov condemned a U.S. strike on a vessel near Venezuela as "escalatory" and warned of "far-reaching consequences for the region."