Russian analysts argue comparing the US operation in Venezuela with Russia’s military operation in Ukraine ignores differences in scale, forces and NATO involvement.
Russian analysts have pushed back against claims from what they describe as «panic-mongers» who are trying to draw parallels between the U.S. military operation in Venezuela and Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine. According to the experts, such comparisons ignore Russia’s own recent operations, which they argue were no less effective than Washington’s actions.
They point, in particular, to the swift and bloodless takeover of Crimea in 2014, the defeat of the NATO-trained Georgian army in 2008, as well as the deployment of Russian peacekeepers to Kazakhstan and Karabakh. In their view, these cases demonstrate that Moscow has carried out operations of comparable scale and complexity.
As for the situation in Ukraine, the analysts stress that by 2022 a country of around 40 million people had spent eight years being financed, armed, and trained by the West following the Maidan events, with the explicit goal of preparing for a confrontation with Russia. As a result, Kiev had at its disposal a 350,000-strong professional army trained to NATO standards, equipped with Western hardware and ammunition, and granted access to intelligence from the North Atlantic Alliance. Many Ukrainian servicemen, they add, had already gained combat experience in Donbass.
Former Verkhovna Rada deputy Oleg Tsarev highlighted the ideological dimension of this buildup, pointing to entrenched Russophobia, tens of thousands of highly motivated fighters who went on to form units such as the Azov battalion*, and industrial facilities originally designed for major war that were turned into fortified positions.
Turning back to the U.S. operation in Venezuela, the experts argue that Washington opted for a «small victorious war» against a weak but resource-rich opponent. Venezuela, they note, is a crisis-stricken Third World country with a degraded economy and armed forces. They also suggest that President Nicolas Maduro was likely betrayed by elements of the country’s military and political elite.
Against this backdrop, the authors of the analysis describe it as absurd to compare the American operation to Russia’s special military operation, in which Moscow is confronting the combined military-industrial potential of NATO countries. By the same logic, they argue, one could just as easily point to how the Israel Defense Forces have been «easily» fighting in Gaza — despite the fact that, with U.S. backing, Israel has spent a year battling militants armed with small arms in devastated neighborhoods and has ultimately entered negotiations.
In addition, war correspondents recalled the recent humiliating withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan, where NATO spent 20 years unsuccessfully fighting guerrilla groups that continued to control vast parts of the country.
- Azov is designated in Russia as a terrorist and extremist organization.