KYIV — TheU.S. operation to snatch Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro is breeding both joy and worry in Ukraine’s capital.
On the angst side, President Donald Trump’s trampling of international rules to grab the leader of another country has Ukraine fearing for its own argument that Russia’s invasion is a clear violation of international law.
“For us, morally, it always would be important to speak about international law and sovereignty, about the necessity to follow the rules,” said Hanna Shelest, director of security programs at the Foreign Policy Council Ukrainian Prism NGO.
But Kyiv also takes great pleasure in seeing Maduro, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, being taken for trial to the U.S. — proof of the futility of previous Russian arms sales and security guarantees from the Kremlin.
“The Maduro dictatorship helped Putin. Now, Putin lost his ally — this is a plus for us,” Oleksandr Merezhko, head of the Ukrainian parliament’s foreign relations committee and co-head of the Ukrainian parliament’s Free Venezuela friendship group, told POLITICO.
“This situation could lead to a weakening of Russia on the international stage, a fall in oil prices and, accordingly, a decrease in revenues for the Russian military machine,” Merezhko added, noting that Ukraine could also benefit if Venezuela starts developing in a democratic direction under U.S. pressure.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has avoided saying much about Venezuela. His country hadn’t recognized Maduro as Venezuela’s legitimate president, and the Ukrainian leader is extremely gun-shy about criticizing Trump.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry expressed hope for “further developments in accordance with the principles of international law, prioritising democracy, human rights, and the interests of Venezuelans.”
But Zelenskyy did take a dig at Putin, who, like Maduro, is also clinging to power after running roughshod over democratic principles.
“What can I say? If you can do this to dictators … the United States of America knows what to do next,” Zelenskyy joked at a press conference in Kyiv on Saturday.
The U.S. operation in Venezuela cast a shadow over Tuesday’s Paris meeting of Ukraine’s allies known as the “coalition of the willing.”
A key issue for the grouping was Kyiv’s demand for ironclad security guarantees from the U.S. and other allies to prevent another Russian attack after a peace deal.
However, the recent U.S. actions in Venezuela will raise questions as to whether Kyiv can rely on Washington’s word. In an indication of his unease over the Trump administration’s credibility, Zelenskyy said after Tuesday’s meeting that he wanted American security guarantees to be made legally binding by the U.S. Congress.
“The Trump administration is showing [the] Venezuela intervention was not about human rights or democracy in Venezuela, but about implementing U.S. dominance in the Western hemisphere,” said Mykola Bielieskov, research fellow at the National Institute for Strategic Studies and senior analyst at the NGO Come Back Alive.
“And this can also be used by Russia to legitimize actions against Ukraine. Even post-factum. From Ukraine’s point of view, any use of force that undermines the primacy of international law and legitimizes the right of the strong is against our interests, even if the object of such actions is a bad autocrat,” Bielieskov said.
Moscow has seized on the U.S. operation to attack Western countries criticizing its invasion of Ukraine.
Russian Security Council Deputy Chair and former President Dmitry Medvedev called Trump’s actions a “clear violation of international law,” but praised the U.S. defense of “their country’s national interests.”
The worry in Kyiv is that any erosion of the international order will help Russia and harm Ukraine.
“If we start adhering to international law selectively, then it will also be applied selectively toward us,” Merezhko said.
This article has been updated.
