Experts believe rare meeting with Moscow ally could signal significant shift in US policy towards Caracas
Senior US officials have flown to Venezuela for rare talks with Nicolás Maduro’s government in an apparent bid to prise the South American country away from its Russian backers after Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Others speculated that the US saw Venezuelan oil as a potential substitute for Russian imports were it to slap sanctions on Moscow as a result of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves anddespite US sanctions imposed at the height of the 2019 attempt to topple Maduro.
Christopher Sabatini, a senior fellow for Latin America at Chatham House, said the US’s precise objectives were unclear although damaging Russian interests and multi-billion dollar investments in Venezuela was likely high on the list. The US cut diplomatic ties with Maduro in 2019 as Donald Trump’s White House backed an ultimately unsuccessful push to drive him from power by recognisingMaduro clung to power in large part thanks to continued economic support from China, Iran and Russia.
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