Kremlin Threatens to Deploy Nuclear-Capable Missiles to Venezuela

Latin America Correspondent Jon Bonfiglio speaks to Henry Bonsu for Times Radio. 

Transcript

Henry Bonsu: 0:02

Okay, let's talk about this story, which could have a serious geopolitical implications. A Kremlin could deploy hypersonic missiles in Venezuela to defend President Maduro's administration. That's according to a senior Russian MP. And this comes as US strikes have killed more than 60 people in the Caribbean after President Trump accused his Venezuelan counterpart of facilitating the smuggling of drugs to America. I'm joined now by Jon Bonfiglio, Latin America Correspondent. Hi again, Jon. We've been talking about the ratcheting up of tensions over the last few weeks. But this would take things on another level. I'm just wondering how serious people in the area are taking it.

Jon Bonfiglio: 0:47

I mean, very seriously, given what we know took place 65 years ago with the Cuban Missile Crisis. It seems to be deja vu all over again. Here we are in the winter of 2025, and suddenly the proliferation of nuclear weapons and related threats uh are back. Of course, there are obvious points of intersection with uh aforementioned with the aforementioned Cuban Missile Crisis in 62, the the escalation of rhetoric, deployments, potential actions. But really these threats are Russia uh using the memory of the Cuban missile crisis in order to leverage the US into backing off in Ukraine. So it's a little bit different in that sense, but you know, notwithstanding, it is a game of chicken being wilfully played out by actors who have the nuclear capability to wipe out life on earth, and that I think cannot really be ignored.

Henry Bonsu: 1:43

Yeah, I'm just looking at a couple of the sources for this story. One of them is a Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, Sergei Rybakov, who is quoted as saying the unjustified buildup of American forces in the Southern Caribbean is creating a situation of heightened tension, and no one but the United States itself is to blame. That's Rybakov. And then somebody called Zoralev, Alexey Zoralev, who's the deputy head of the Russian Parliament's Defense Committee, he's the one who said Moscow could provide Venezuela with these Oresnik missiles, which apparently have a range of just over 3,000 miles. Now, um, how would you characterize the relationship between Venezuela and Russia? If they called Russia, would Russia come to their aid?

Jon Bonfiglio: 2:26

Well, Russia, well, Venezuela has emphatically called Russia for economic aid over the course of the last years, but very specifically for diplomatic and military aid over the last few months since this massive deployment began in the in the Southern Caribbean. So, I mean, to some extent, I think Venezuela is relatively meaningless politically to Russia, but given how Russia tends to operate in an international sphere, clearly this is a threat, which I think again we have to take seriously because it's not as though a Russian politician is going to speak out of turn against Putin's wishes. Clearly, this is this has been something which he's been set up to do. So this is undoubtedly a deliberate raising of the stakes that the Russians are are engaged in. And it's also important, I think, to realize that this announcement, this statement, doesn't come in isolation. Less than a week ago, President Putin himself ratified a new strategic partnership deal with with Venezuela, focusing on military, economic, and energy sectors. And this is the energy sector that's important, Henry, because we've spoken about this before in terms of one of the reasons, if not the main reason, why the US is actually has this massive flotilla off the coast of Venezuela, is because of Venezuela's vast oil reserves. So it basically means that Russia is also now laying claim to this huge oil wealth. Additionally, in the announcement, the countries, Venezuela and Russia, is also establishing a new financial system between the two, which is not at the mercy of Western sanctions. And, and this is another crucial point, although it's not been announced, flight tracking data of the last week suggests that Russia has almost certainly recently delivered missile defense systems to Venezuela. So Venezuela is not the quite the ailing, weak creature that Donald Trump had hoped as of a couple of weeks ago.

Henry Bonsu: 4:25

Right. And I mentioned in the intro, John, that US strikes have killed more than 60 people, it alleges are narco traffickers, people trying to smuggle drugs into the United States. This is all in just a few weeks, people are calling them extrajudicial killings, but President Trump and his Defense Secretary Pete Pete Heggseth are saying this is all part of the defense of their territory. Is there any evidence that these killings are changing the pattern, the movement of the calculations of people the the United States would deem narco traffickers?

Jon Bonfiglio: 5:00

Well, I mean, they're not changing behavior because that was not taking place to any meaningful degree through the through the Southern Caribbean anyway. So it's certainly affected the movement of people and fishing boats and sort of ad hoc drug movement, but there's no serious infrastructure that was in place before these strikes started to happen. Notwithstanding what it has led to in the last few weeks is increasing pushback which has been growing against these deadly strikes in both Southern Caribbean and the Eastern Pacific now. Just in the last few days, Luis Moreno Ocampo, a former chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, pointedly said that under international law the strikes are crimes against humanity. He said that those targeted are criminals, you know, if they are criminals, which they've not been uh proved to be to date, but even if even if they are, they're criminals, not soldiers, and criminals are civilians, not military agents.

Henry Bonsu: 6:01

All right. Jon, thank you very much indeed for joining us. Oh, one last thing. Are you going down to COP, going down to Belem? Are you going to be in Brazil?

Jon Bonfiglio: 6:09

No, I'm gonna miss it. Despite its international importance, because we've learned, of course, of the seismic nature of the decisions that the COP has made over the course of the last few years. So unfortunately, I'm gonna be missing this one, but I will be in Haiti later on this month. I hope to be joining you from there to give you an update on what's happening.

Henry Bonsu: 6:30

Really good. Thanks, Jon. Stay safe. Thank you very much, Jon Bonfiglio.