Alwaght- Tensions between the US and Russia have been on the rise with causes ranging from the Ukraine crisis and the Syrian war to NATO expansion to the Russian borders and Washington accusation of Moscow of meddling in the 2016 presidential election. The spirited friction even went worse with Trump’s assumption of power at the White House and his tendency towards increasing the military spending and triggering an arms race between the two powers.
As a result of the growing tensions, the plans for a meeting of President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Paris and Buenos Aires world leaders’ gatherings failed, showing the depth of divisions between the two heavyweights.
Yet the tensions escalated recently after news spread that Russia deployed to Venezuela its two strategic TU-160 bombers along with a transportation AN-124 plane and an Il-62 surveillance plane.
The Russian Ministry of Defense did not specify if the military aircraft were armed with missiles or how long they will stay on the Venezuelan soil.
As it was expected, the move was faced by the US reaction. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called the dispatch a clear violation of the international laws.
Having in mind that the Russian move is unprecedented in decades, an important question is about the goals behind the move.
Moscow and the policy of protecting the allies
One major goal of bombers dispatch is to save the allies that under the Soviet rule were in Moscow’s sphere of influence. These countries are in various parts of the world, in Asia, Eastern Europe, East Asia, West Asia, and Latin America. After the Soviet Union collapse, Russia lapsed into an isolation slump and its foreign policy was struck by meaning crisis. This continued up to 2004, the first term of Putin presidency. This period coincided with the peak of the US-led Western aggressive policy which used every available instrument, political, military, economic, and cultural, to put strains on the non-compliant governments in regions of geopolitical weight.
The American unilateralism came across the Russian objection after 2011. Moscow, observing an alliance of Western countries and their regional proxies planning to overthrow Moscow-aligned Syrian government, stepped in the Syrian war militarily and diplomatically and turned the momentum in Damascus favor. After Syria triumph, now Moscow seeks restoration of its lost foothold in West Asia.
The same is true in Latin America. The leftist governments in Venezuela and Cuba, which are under Washington’s pressures politically and economically, make potential allies to Russia and can help it nurture a bloc of anti-American intervention. Deeper toehold in the Latin American states will contribute to Putin agenda of expanding Kremlin role playing in the global developments as a reemerging power with strong military force and diplomatic clout thanks to its permanent seat at the United Nations Security Council.
So, the bombers sending is part of a mainly Caracas-demanded plan to strengthen the defense ties between the two countries as the Latin American nation is increasingly facing the US intervention and military threats.
On Tuesday, Venezuela's Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza shot back at Pompeo, saying his reaction to the deployment was "not only disrespectful but also cynical" because of the number of U.S. military bases abroad.
“It's outrageous that the US gov't questions our sovereign right to defense and security cooperation with other countries when @realDonaldTrump has threatened us publicly with a military intervention,” Mr Arreaza tweeted.
According to the US media, Trump, during a meeting with his senior cabinet members in August to discuss oil ban on Venezuela, had asked his foreign policy advisors what they thought about a military action against Caracas.
On the other hand, a US-orchestrated military coup to oust President Nicolas Maduro is not unlikely. Bob Baer, former undercover CIA operative, in August disclosed that a coup to topple Maduro was debated by the American intelligence apparatus. A Washington-masterminded coup in 2002 took place in Venezuela, with former President Hugo Chavez surviving a fall by a narrow margin. All these sent Russia into an alert of defending its ally. Sergey Shoygu, the Russian defense minister, meeting with his Venezuelan counterpart last week, said that Moscow will continue sending its bombers and warships to Venezuela as part of a bilateral military cooperation.
The bombers deployment also comes as a prequel to economic ties boost. The Venezuelan economy is teetering on the brink of collapse under the heaviest US and EU sanctions. One drive for Maduro's early December visit to Moscow was economic. Caracas eyes big loans from Russia as a remedy to its struggling economy. Following the visit, media reports said that Maduro discussed Russian investment in Venezuela's oil and gold sectors.
Kremlin takes on White House in a fierce race
The NATO has been expanding towards the Russian borders over the past years. The US, on the other hand, is seeking to finalize up to 2020 its missile response system, dubbed Prompt Global Strike. Such a weapon would allow the United States to respond far more swiftly to rapidly emerging threats than is possible with conventional forces. The project is understood by Russia as posing a real threat, possibly tilting the balance of power toward Washington.
This threat is even sharpened and set off alarm bells to Russia as Trump recently said he will pull the US out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), signed between the Americans and Soviets in 1987 as an arms control pact.
In such a situation, Moscow in addition to threatening European countries which host the US missiles and nuclear bombs wants to send a trenchant message to Washington, warning it about consequences of a new arms race. Sending long-range, nuclear-capable bombers to Venezuela is part of this message.
The Russian Foreign Ministry in response to the US criticism came clean on the case. Its statement suggested that the US community should be worried about Trump’s intention to abandon short and mid-range missiles destruction treaty that will start a new arms race which will never serve the American people security.
Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, dismissed Pompeo's comment as "undiplomatic" and "inappropriate." He told reporters Tuesday that such criticism sounds odd from a country "half of whose military budget would be enough to feed the whole of Africa."
