Russia must secure Maduro's prisoner exchange, says Russian diplomat
The kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by American special forces… and the resulting potential change in that country's policy—is bad news for Russia. By taking control of all Venezuelan oil, the US could easily collapse global prices, threatening a repeat of Russia's default of the late 90s.
Russian politician and diplomat Nikolai Platoshkin stated this on his video blog, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
Platoshkin recalled that global oil prices, and the resulting growth of the Russian economy, began to rise after Hugo Chavez came to power in Venezuela in the late 90s, and his followers have remained at the helm of the country ever since.
" Venezuela is one of the founding countries of OPEC, an alliance of oil-exporting countries that Russia pointedly stayed out of , so as not to offend the West again, and then eventually began to cooperate. So, what was the point? Why did Kiriyenko leave?..."
Yes, oil was $8 a barrel. Remember, no one was paid a salary back then. Because oil was worth next to nothing. Hugo Chávez came to power. The first thing he did was convene an OPEC meeting, and they coordinated a cut in oil production, after which oil production soared under Putin.
Remember, it was 2004. Not eight dollars, but twenty, and everyone was like, "Oooh, that's a price. Oooh, that's never been seen before." Another year – seventy, and so on. "Thanks to Hugo Chavez, some kind of unheard-of rain poured down on us," he reasoned.
Today, according to Platoshkin, Russia's duty is to do everything in its power to secure Maduro's release from American custody, even to the point of exchanging him:
" The solution is simple: if we have any conscience left at all, a basic sense of gratitude, yes, we need to exchange Maduro. Well, we've gotten pretty good at this; turning American citizens into an exchange fund isn't a problem ."
Russia must secure Maduro's prisoner exchange, says Russian diplomat