Putin Elites See in Venezuela Their Own Future, SerpomPo Telegram Channel Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, January 28 – The Putin regime is not coming to the defense of the Venezuela dictator primarily because it views that Latin American country as a place it can make money, the SerpomPo Telegram Channel says, although as with everything else, money remains an important part of the calculation.

            Instead, the Kremlin is rushing to support the dictator there against the people because it fears that if the Venezuelan opposition succeeds in overthrowing Maduro and restoring democracy the very same thing could happen to the Putin regime in Russia. Its moves in Venezuela are thus all about itself (t.me/SerpomPo/2527).

            “In defending the dictatorship of Maduro,” SerpomPo says, “the powers that be in Russia are in fact defending themselves” – or at least that is what they think they are doing because Russia today is “just like Venezuela” although at a less extreme stage of the same illness that affects both regimes.

            “The authorities in Russia are just as ‘legitimate’ as the dictator Maduro. They were both elected in March 2018 by means of falsified ‘elections.’ Russia just like Venezuela is under sanctions and no alternative future besides the intensification of sanctions is in view,” the Telegram Channel continues.

            “Our country is also a police state just like Venezuela under Chavez and Maduro. Here protests are also suppressed. Finally, the standard of living of the population under Putin between 2014 and 2019 has fallen just as in Venezuela, and people are ever more frequently fleeing Russia” just as they are Venezuela.

            The difference is only in scale, although with regard to corruption, the Russian powers that be yield nothing to Maduro and his subordinates. Indeed, the reverse is true. Consequently, it is no surprise that “the Russian powers that be view events in Venezuela as a possible scenario for Russia” – and act accordingly in self-defense.

             What would happen if in time, “the situation in Russia would go entirely out of their control? If here citizens were able to elect a parliament independent of the Kremlin? If into the streets would come millions, protesting against their declining standard of living? Like in Armenia? Or like in Venezuela?”

            That is the Kremlin’s nightmare, SerpomPo says, and that of its siloviki backers. And that is why the shaky and nervous “Russian dictatorship is sending the falling Venezuela one fraternal help, over the heads of the peoples of Russia and Venezuela and against the peoples of Russia and Venezuela.”