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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov landed in Caracas on Tuesday afternoon to review agreements and deepen relations with “one of his nation’s most faithful partners.” In a press conference in Caracas, the foreign minister did not spare criticism of Western countries.
By Elianah Jorge, RFI correspondent in Caracas
“It is necessary to unite our forces to face the attempts of blackmail and illegal unilateral pressure from the West,” Lavrov said together with Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil.
The Russian minister was received at the Casa Amarilla, headquarters of the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry, where he met with Gil to review the agreements and conventions between Caracas and Moscow. Lavrov then met behind closed doors with Vice President Delcy Rodríguez. At night he was received at the Miraflores Palace by President Nicolás Maduro.
Venezuela has been one of Russia’s main strategic partners on the continent for more than a decade. Both maintain more than 300 agreements in the areas of health, energy, finance, agriculture, technology, military and anti-drugs.
Lavrov affirmed that bilateral relations will continue to strengthen between the two countries. According to him, Russia will do everything possible to make the Venezuelan economy independent of US pressure and sanctions. He also said that “events in Ukraine” were discussed with Gil.
“We will resolve the situation in Ukraine and other conflicts in the world using the principles of the UN Charter on the sovereign equality of States, on the principle of indivisibility of security,” the Russian minister said. “Our task is to ensure that the UN Charter is applied in its entirety, that the right to self-determination is not taken away when it suits the West,” he added.
MIR card
Both countries are fine-tuning the details to put the MIR (Russian word for “peace”) card into operation. This banking transaction standard began to be implemented after the Visa and Mastercard systems were blocked in Russia after the invasion of Ukraine.
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil said that technical teams from the Central Banks of Venezuela and Russia are working “to free us from the dollar as a regulator of commercial transactions” and implement the use of the MIR card as a means of payment in businesses and promote the tourism between both countries.
Lavrov criticized the sanctions imposed by the United States on Caracas, since “they do not keep their promises.” He also assured that his country will favor Venezuela becoming an independent economy.
The Russian and Venezuelan foreign ministers stressed the importance of building a joint agenda to establish “more just, equal and complementary relations between countries.”
A reliable partner
For Lavrov, Russia and Venezuela are part of a group of nations that “defend the democratization of international relations.” The Russian foreign minister stressed that Venezuela is “one of Russia’s most reliable partners” because “relations are based on the conceptual proximity of approaches to the main issues on the global agenda.”
Russia and Venezuela got closer again during the government of former President Hugo Chávez (1999-2013), when million-dollar agreements on arms and housing were signed. Ties have been strengthened under the rule of Nicolás Maduro.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine was the first to arrive in the country. Venezuela currently receives hundreds of Russian tourists. Last August, Venezuela was one of the hosts of the War Olympics, a war competition organized by Russia and held in countries allied with the government of Vladimir Putin.
Before Venezuela, Lavrov visited Brazil, where he met with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. After leaving Caracas, the Russian minister will visit Cuba and Nicaragua.
mature on tv
Lavrov’s visit comes a day after Maduro launched his weekly television show. Every Monday at five in the afternoon, the president will present the program “Con Maduro más” through social networks and the Venezuelan state television channel. In the first edition, the highlight was the participation of an avatar, created by artificial intelligence, which interacts with the president.
Called Sira, the avatar, an Afro-descendant woman in her 30s, made her television debut stating that she felt “happy and honored” to participate in the program and concluded with a standard Chavismo-Madurismo greeting: “we will win.”
The inclusion of an avatar in the president’s program was seen as a way of trying to modernize the administration of Nicolás Maduro. It is the second time that Chavismo resorts to artificial intelligence to create parallel panoramas. Months ago, the government turned to technology to broadcast ads on social networks that suggested progress in the country.
The focus of the program is clearly political. At the premiere, projects by mayors, councilors and governors allied to Chavismo were highlighted. Vice President Delcy Rodríguez and Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López participated in the program, demonstrating that they are the two main allies of the president.
Maduro tries to show the audience that his administration cares about the problems of the people. This is how the president seeks to increase his popularity and presence in the popular imagination
But all this has a reason: the presidential elections, scheduled for 2024, which can be brought forward if so determined by the National Electoral Council, the body that governs the elections in Venezuela.
