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14:56 14.03.2025 •
We will march alongside each other, together and forever
Hugo Chavez
March 14 is an important date for Russia and Venezuela as they mark 80 years of diplomatic relations.
Over these decades, the relations between our two countries enjoyed an upward momentum, adding mutually beneficial cooperation and trust-based dialogue rooted in our convergent political, spiritual and moral tenets to the bonds of friendship and mutual sympathy between our nations. This relationship evolved into a strategic partnership at the turn of the century. It hinges on our unwavering commitment to the principles and values of equality, mutual trust, non-interference in each other’s domestic affairs, as well as supporting each other in matters dealing with respecting sovereignty and promoting national interests.
The first contacts between the people of Russia and Venezuela date back to the 18th century. According to historical sources, Francisco de Miranda travelled to the Russian Empire in 1786. Born in Caracas, he was one of the first Latin American leaders to call on his compatriots to take up arms and liberate the region from Spain’s oppressive colonial rule. Empress Catherine the Great granted this brave Venezuelan the title of Russian Army Colonel within the Yekaterinoslavsky Cuirassier Regiment. She also gave him a Russian passport to make it easier for the man to travel around Europe.
Simon Bolivar continued de Miranda’s cause and carried on with the liberation war which led to independence for the people of Venezuela in 1811. This earned him the status of Venezuela’s national leader and Father of the Nation as an informal title. We know that at the grassroots level many Russians supported Venezuelans in their aspiration to become independent, since quite a few Russian volunteers took part in this anti-colonial struggle. Ivan Minuta and Ivan Mayer were among these volunteers. Russia kept a close eye on the success and advancement of Latin American nations with many press titles of that time, in particular, The Moscow Telegraph, devoting entire pages to covering developments on this distant continent by offering detailed reports on the nascent sovereign states.
The Russian Empire established official state-to-state relations with the Republic of Venezuela on February 17, 1857, when Emperor Alexander II sent a response letter to President Jose Tadeo Monagas recognising the country’s independence. Fast forward just a few years, and in 1878, the governments of the two countries appointed their respective consuls in Caracas and St Petersburg. The geographical distance separating the two countries did not prevent them from proactively expanding their trade and economic ties.
We remember the fact that Venezuela firmly sided with the anti-Hitler coalition during the harsh years when we fought Nazism. Caracas played an important role in supplying allies with oil, a vital asset. It was Latin America’s biggest oil producer at the time and one of the world’s biggest exporters, supplying allies with fuel and lubricants despite the huge distance separating it from the main theatres of war. These deliveries made it all the way to our country through lend-lease transactions, enabling us to ensure the uninterrupted operation of our air forces, tanks and other military hardware, including during the Battle of Stalingrad.
March 1945 marks the latest landmark event, and reference point, in the diplomatic relations between Moscow and Caracas. This is when the two countries established regular political dialogue and started exchanging delegations, expanding trade, while also promoting contacts in culture and research. The first official visit by the president of Venezuela to the USSR took place in November 1976. President Carlos Andres Perez met with Soviet leaders and the two countries signed an economic and industrial cooperation agreement, which laid the foundation for our future economic cooperation.
The end of the Cold War, dissolution of the Soviet Union and the resulting tectonic shifts on the international stage tested the strength of Russia-Venezuela ties. Today, we have every right to assert that our bilateral cooperation has stood the test of time.
Our relations moved to a new level during the rule of President Hugo Chavez. A true patriot and a loyal son of his country, he led a new stage of the struggle for independence and openly declared the right of his homeland to sovereignty, rejecting Washington’s idea of looking up to the “older brother.” Hugo Chavez has left an indelible print in global politics. A charismatic leader on the international scale and a clearsighted statesman, he was one of the first politicians in the modern history of Latin America to promote the idea of multipolarity. He has done a great deal to turn it into a mainline trend on the international stage.
We remember Hugo Chavez’s historical visit to Russia in 2001 and his talks with President of Russia Vladimir Putin, which reaffirmed the similarity of their conceptual views on geopolitics and the world order that formed the basis for strategic partnership between Russia and Venezuela. Our presidents met many more times after that. Apart from Moscow, Hugo Chavez also visited St Petersburg, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don and many other Russian cities. It was in that period that truly comradely and trust-based political contacts developed between our countries, which launched large-scale joint projects in energy, finance, medicine, agriculture and high-tech sectors.
It is notable that the initiatives and reforms launched by Hugo Chavez are being implemented and have been given a new lease on life during the term of President Nicolas Maduro, who is firmly upholding Venezuela’s independence and national interests despite the inhuman sanctions war.
Today, Russian-Venezuelan relations are developing on a firm basis of the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation, which was signed in 1996, and a common foreign policy philosophy focused on establishing and protecting national sovereignty and a balance of interests in international relations. Our countries are committed to the creation of a more just polycentric world order based on the principles of the UN Charter in their entirety and as a whole, and the right of nations to independently determine their paths and models of political and socioeconomic development.
Our countries reject Western diktat and hegemonic actions. They are working closely together against the modern practices of colonialism, and are in the vanguard of fighting against any manifestations of racism, xenophobia and neo-Nazism. We preserve our historical memory and protect our nations’ heritage from the attempts to falsify history undertaken by those who would benefit from forgetting or distorting the facts of aggression and genocide. We are grateful to our Bolivarian friends for their understanding of the causes and goals of the special military operation. We highly appreciate the fact that the largest Immortal Regiment march in Latin America is held in Caracas and that many Venezuelans take part in it.
Russia and Venezuela stand together in defence of the principles and norms of international law on multilateral platforms. They are acting together to derail the attempts of a narrow group of Western states to impose their rules-based order on the international community.
In this context, I would like to make special mention of our joint efforts to promote the consolidated approach of the Global Majority countries within the Group of Friends in Defence of the UN Charter, which is coordinated by Caracas. Its format has been used to harmonise joint statements at the UN Security Council, the General Assembly and its main committees, in particular, on unilateral coercive measures, food security, decolonisation and neocolonialism, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and many other dramatic issues on the global agenda.
Russia and Venezuela have developed a practice of mutual support at the UN, where our partner goes on record by making vocal statements in support of the key Russian initiatives when it has no right to vote because of the Western sanctions. Venezuela has traditionally co-authored our draft resolutions on combating the glorification of Nazism, on the no first placement of weapons in outer space, transparency and confidence-building measures in outer space activities, the prevention of an arms race in outer space, and on international ICT security.
We attach great importance to the further strengthening of our cooperation to stabilise the global energy market, including within OPEC+ and the Gas Exporting Countries Forum.
We value Venezuela’s interest in deepening cooperation with BRICS – a association advancing the interests of the Global South and East, and a pillar of the multipolar world order.
We commend Caracas’ vigorous role in consolidating centripetal trends across Latin America and the Caribbean. Venezuela stands as the epicentre for progressive leftist forces on the continent. We acknowledge with appreciation its support for Russia’s efforts to expand collaboration with the region.
Building upon this principled foundation, we have substantially intensified political dialogue. Since 2013, presidents Vladimir Putin and Nicolás Maduro have met over ten times. In October 2024, they held talks on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Kazan. Regular exchanges of messages and phone calls between the heads of state further sustain this dynamic.
Inter-parliamentary ties remain pivotal to interstate engagement, including through Friendship Groups active in both chambers of our parliaments. Russian and Venezuelan deputies participate reciprocally in international events hosted by each country and actively observe electoral processes. Cross-factional and inter-party exchanges continue to broaden.
Political engagements rest on robust and multifaceted trade, economic, and investment cooperation. Despite Western sanctions, we have advanced mutually complementary collaboration. Moreover, unilateral restrictive measures against Russia and Venezuela have brought our nations closer, while our economies have developed resilient immunity to such pressures.
Practical coordination is channelled through the High-Level Russian-Venezuelan Intergovernmental Commission. At its 18th session (Caracas, November 7, 2024), a long-term plan for developing key cooperation areas until 2030 was signed.
Energy-sector investments in Venezuela underpin economic ties. Bilateral trade volumes grow via Russian exports of chemical, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, and agribusiness products. The Russia-Venezuela Council of Entrepreneurs operates effectively.
We systematically address logistical challenges within new geo-economic realities. Alternative financial mechanisms are being refined through interbank correspondent networks and central banks’ cooperation. The Russian-Venezuelan Evrofinance Mosnarbank functions successfully. Since 2024, Venezuela has accepted Russia’s Mir payment system cards via partner bank terminals. Independent transport and technological infrastructure leveraging domestic solutions is under development.
Military and military-technical cooperation, strengthened by joint exercises, visits of Russian vessels to Venezuelan ports, and initiatives to maintain the combat readiness of the Venezuelan Armed Forces, forms a cornerstone of bilateral relations.
During the coronavirus pandemic, humanitarian cooperation emerged as a vital social component, marked by Russian vaccine deliveries. This collaboration advanced further with the December 2022 inauguration of the Russian-Venezuelan Centre for Infectious Disease Research and Prevention in Caracas. Russian insulin shipments continue, with pilot projects underway to localise production.
Direct Caracas-Moscow-Caracas flights, operational since May 2021 via Venezuela’s state airline Conviasa, further deepen our ties. This route significantly contributes to tourism growth and strengthens friendship and trust between our peoples.
People-to-people ties have been a major element in our relations. Russia has been seeking to expand them by allocating state-sponsored scholarships so that Venezuelan nationals can enrol in Russian higher education institutions. The Centre for Open Education in the Russian Language and Teaching Russian at the Bolivarian University’s Francisco de Miranda Professional Training Institute operates successfully in Caracas, promoting mutual understanding. Universities have been forging closer ties too and there have been more delegation exchanges among civil society, research, educational and youth associations, coupled with joint lectures and workshops. There is also the good tradition of regularly receiving members of the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry as interns at the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Diplomatic Academy.
Russia welcomes and supports mutually enriching cultural ties. Timed to coincide with the 240th anniversary of Simon Bolivar, Venezuela’s national hero, the unveiling of his monument in Moscow marked a major milestone. Venezuela reciprocated by placing Alexander Pushkin’s bust in the Ezequiel Zamora Park in Caracas to mark the great Russian poet’s 225th anniversary.
There have been more exchanges of music and threatre companies too. Venezuela offered a warm welcome to the Turetsky Choir, the Lyudmila Zykina State Academic Russian Folk Ensemble, and Grenada Russian Folk Band. Russian concert-goers enjoyed performances by the Bolivar Baroque Orchestra led by Maestro Boris Paredes in Moscow and St Petersburg. The State Academic Bolshoi Theatre has established direct contacts with Teatro Teresa Carreño, South America’s second largest theatre.
Sports diplomacy has also become an essential element on our bilateral agenda. Russia values Venezuela’s solidarity towards Russian atheletes when competing in international events, as well as during bilateral exchanges. Team Russia will always remember its experience at the 5th ALBA Games when it could proudly fly its flag in Venezuela in April 2023. We are always delighted to receive Venezuelan athletes in our country at the BRICS Games and the Games of the Future in Kazan.
Russia-Venezuela cooperation in the information space has been playing a special role recently, helping offer international audiences an alternative to the western mainstream.
Based on the experience we have accumulated in our relations and by being creative in building on this legacy, we reaffirm our commitment to further strengthening our friendship and promoting lasting, stable, predictable ties. We look to the future with optimism. We are certain that our bilateral relations will keep expanding into new domains, while our alliance on the foreign policy front will enable us to achieve our objectives. Celebrations of the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War and in WWII will definitely mark a major milestone in our bilateral agenda.
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