Eli Lake, Columnist

Trump’s Venezuela Sanctions Just Tightened on Russia

The president is not interested in cutting a deal with the Maduro regime.

February 19, 2020 at 1:30 PM UTC

Eli Lake is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering national security and foreign policy. He was the senior national security correspondent for the Daily Beast and covered national security and intelligence for the Washington Times, the New York Sun and UPI.

Things just got a little more difficult for him and Russia.
Photographer: FEDERICO PARRA/AFP

Provide news feedback or report an error

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

This article is for subscribers only.

For the last year, President Donald Trump’s pressure campaign against Venezuela’s dictator has had a loophole. Now it is about to close.

Nicolas Maduro and his inner circle, along with the state oil company, have been shamed and sanctioned. The U.S. has helped lead an international coalition of over 50 countries to recognize the president of Venezuela’s parliament as the country’s interim leader. But Russia has paid no real cost for helping to bring Venezuela’s sanctioned oil to the international market.