“This morning, the United States carried out an act of armed aggression against Venezuela,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry wrote on January 3, as news emerged of the U.S. operation targeting various Venezuelan military facilities. “This development is extremely concerning and deserving of condemnation.” When the White House confirmed that U.S. special forces had captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and flown them to New York to stand trial for drug trafficking and other crimes, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated that “we strongly urge the U.S. leadership to reconsider their position and release the legitimately elected president of a sovereign country and his spouse.”

Beyond this statement, Moscow did nothing material to help the regime that it has previously called a key strategic partner in Latin America. It was only seven months ago, in May, that Maduro and Russian President Vladimir Putin met at the Kremlin to sign a treaty on strategic partnership and cooperation that stated that Russia and Venezuela would strengthen military ties and reinforce their ability to defend themselves against hostile external forces. Yet the Russians failed to warn Maduro of the U.S. operation or to protect him during the raid; instead, they watched from the sidelines.

The Kremlin’s impotence in Venezuela follows a familiar pattern that has been on display since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine four years ago. Absorbed in its protracted war against Kyiv, Moscow has few resources to support its authoritarian partners. In 2024, the Russians stood by as the regime of their long-standing ally Bashar al-Assad collapsed in Syria. Last summer, in response to the U.S.-Israeli strikes against Iran, another strategic partner, the Russians offered to mediate between the belligerents but weren’t able to supply useful intelligence or air defense equipment that could have made a difference. In the case of Venezuela, Moscow was able to do even less than it did for Damascus and Tehran.

For Putin, the blow from Maduro’s downfall has been especially humiliating. Although Venezuela has long been a drain on Russia’s state coffers because of unrecoverable loans and money-losing oil projects, the country at least offered a certain point of pride: Moscow could claim to have secured a foothold in the United States’ backyard. To authoritarian regimes from Myanmar to Nicaragua, the Kremlin pushed the narrative that Russia is a potent hedge against an overbearing United States. Maduro’s ousting not only makes this rhetoric ring hollow; it also underscores the fact that Venezuela was never Moscow’s to lose.

Russia and Venezuela have maintained friendly ties for a quarter century. In 2000, Putin and Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, both newly elected, met for the first time during a UN General Assembly session in New York. The relationship between Caracas and Moscow,........

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