Russia offered to trade Venezuela for free hand in Ukraine, former Trump official reveals

The New York Times reported the information.

The unusual exchange offer came to light through congressional testimony by Fiona Hill, who served as the National Security Council's top Russia expert during President Trump's first term. Speaking before Congress in October 2019, Hill detailed how Russian officials floated the idea through informal channels, including media commentators and newspaper articles, suggesting that Washington and Moscow could each maintain exclusive spheres of influence in their respective regions.

"The Russians were signaling very strongly that they wanted to somehow make some very strange swap arrangement between Venezuela and Ukraine," Hill testified, recounting events that occurred more than two years before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

According to Hill, the Russian position boiled down to a quid pro quo: if the United States wanted Moscow out of Venezuela, it should accept Russia's dominance in Ukraine. "You want us out of your backyard," Hill said, summarizing the Kremlin's message. "We have our own version of this. You're in our backyard in Ukraine."

Hill said she traveled to Moscow personally to reject the proposal. The overture came during a period of heightened U.S.-Venezuela tensions, when Russia had deployed approximately 100 military personnel and new weapons systems to support President Nicolás Maduro's government.

With Maduro's recent removal, Moscow has lost another key ally in the region, following the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad just over a year ago. Russia's official response through its foreign ministry condemned the U.S. action as a violation of international law, though the Kremlin's primary focus remains the war in Ukraine, where the Trump administration is currently attempting to broker a peace agreement.

The Russian government faces a delicate balancing act: maintaining its position on Ukraine without antagonizing the White House. Some senior Russian officials have privately expressed satisfaction with what they view as Washington abandoning international law in favor of raw power politics.

Dmitri Medvedev, a former Russian president turned hardline war supporter, wrote on social media that "the law of the strongest is clearly stronger than ordinary justice." In an interview with the state-run Tass news agency, he added that Washington now has "no grounds, even formally, to reproach our country."

• On January 5, a court hearing was held in New York for former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, where he appeared with his wife. The politician declared he was not guilty, adding that he is still the leader of his country. The next hearing is scheduled for March 17.