Russia Defies US Threats Over Venezuela

It’s no surprise that this cruel regime has very few friends. Not surprisingly, one of them is the Kremlin. And that is why the Russian-Venezuelan Threat Mitgation Act is so urgently needed. This bill would require the State Department to provide a crucial threat assessment of Russia’s influence in Venezuela. Just this weekend we saw media reports that more Russian military officials continue to arrive in Venezuela. This is just the latest attempt in a long-running push by Vladimir Putin to prop up this brutal autocrat. This menacing Kremlin influence creates not only a hurdle to restoring a functioning, legitimate democracy to the people of Venezuela, it also poses an imminent military threat to the entire Western hemisphere. Our goal, regardless of party, is to allow for the peaceful transition to Venezuela’s rightful leader, interim president Juan Guaido, and for the peaceful execution of free and fair elections. That will not happen soon enough, so long as Putin’s troops are helping prop up Maduro’s bloody regime. More…