Russia wanted an exchange: Ukraine for Venezuela

The U.S. intervention in Venezuela has provoked mixed reactions in Moscow and recalled the Kremlin's 2019 attempt at a strange trade-off - a free hand for the U.S. in Venezuela in exchange for Washington's silence on Ukraine, the New York Times reports.

As Fiona Hill, a former Russia adviser in the Trump administration, testified, Russian officials aired the proposal informally through the media and analysts.

Hill personally traveled to Moscow to reject the deal. With the fall of Bashar Assad and now Maduro, Russia is losing key allies.

Some Russian officials openly admit that the US is now acting outside international law, giving Moscow "moral cover" for its own actions.

(mja)