Eli Lake, Columnist

Putin’s Moves in Venezuela Are Not as Ominous as They Appear

Two cargo planes of military assistance aren’t enough to make a difference to Maduro’s survival.

March 27, 2019 at 10:00 AM 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.

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For the past two months, many of America’s allies have worried that U.S. President Donald Trump really means it when he says that “all options are on the table” when it comes to Venezuela. It turns out that they should have been paying more attention to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

On Saturday two Russian cargo planes of personnel and equipment landed in Caracas, prompting a war of words between Moscow and Washington. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned the U.S. would not “stand idly by” as Russia continued to arm the illegitimate regime of Nicolas Maduro. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov responded that his government opposed the U.S.-led coup in Venezuela.