Russia could provide its most advanced hypersonic missiles to Venezuela, amid frayed relations with the United States.
The Kremlin claims the Oreshnik missile is impossible to intercept and can carry conventional and nuclear warheads.
Alexei Zhuravlyov, the deputy chairman of Russia’s parliamentary defence committee, warned that “the Americans may be in for some surprises” as he opened the door to a weapons transfer to Venezuela.
“I see no obstacles to supplying a friendly country with new developments such as the Oreshnik or, let’s say, the well-proven Kalibr missiles,” Mr Zhuravlyov told the Russian news website Gazeta.Ru.
The Oreshnik missile, translating as “hazel tree”, is capable of striking any target across the European continent in under an hour if launched from Russia or Belarus, according to Moscow.
Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, has insisted that the missiles are so mighty that using several of them in a strike with conventional warheads would be just as catastrophic as a nuclear attack.
The Oreshnik was first used in the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro in November 2024 in what Putin said was a reprisal to Ukraine’s use of long-range weaponry hailing from the US and UK, including Storm Shadow missiles, to hit targets inside Russia.
It is understood Nicolás Maduro, the Venezuelan president, reached out to Putin personally to plead for military assistance amid increased US military presence in the Caribbean.
Mr Maduro asked for Russia to boost air defences, including restoring Russian Sukhoi Su-30MK2 aircraft already in Venezuela’s possession and acquiring 14 sets of missiles, The Washington Post reported last week.
Nicolás Maduro, the Venezuelan president, has asked Vladimir Putin for military assistance – Pedro Mattey/AFP via Getty Images
In a letter to the Russian president, Mr Maduro reportedly said that the Sukhoi fighters were “the most important deterrent the Venezuelan national government had when facing the threat of war”.
Caracas also reached out to China and Iran to upgrade its military capabilities and expand defensive ties, according to the paper.
The US deployment in the Caribbean Sea has been swelling for months as Washington dispatched fighter jets, warships, bombers, marines, drones and spy planes in a move that the US president claimed was necessary to sever the flow drugs into the US.
More than a dozen US strikes on alleged drug traffickers, most of whom departed from Venezuelan shores, have killed more than 60 people since September.
Credit: @realDonaldTrump/Truth Social
On Saturday, Maria Zakharova, the Russian foreign ministry spokesman, said that Moscow condemns “the use of excessive military force in carrying out anti-drug tasks” by the US, reiterating its “firm support” for Venezuela’s leadership.
Russia and Venezuela have celebrated close ties over the past two decades and signed a strategic partnership treaty in Moscow last year.
Mr Zhuravlyov, describing Russia on Tuesday as “one of Venezuela’s key military-technical partners”, said that it “supplies the country with almost the full range of weaponry”.
On Tuesday, Putin announced that the Sarmat intercontinental heavy missile will enter Russia’s combat service from next year.
The nuclear missile, nicknamed Satan II, has been touted as the “world’s deadliest weapon”.
