News 22:02 06 February 2019

The Russian leadership is beginning to doubt the viability of the regime of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro

As two sources told Bloomberg in the Kremlin, Moscow fears that the catastrophic state of the Venezuelan economy is eroding support for Maduro. At the same time, the army's reluctance to participate in suppressing protests limits the current regime's ability to use force. As an example of doubts in the Russian leadership, the agency draws attention to Vladimir Putin’s silence regarding the events in Venezuela. The Kremlin has not yet officially commented on this publication.

The Venezuelan authorities, according to some reports, sold 73 tons of gold last year. Türkiye and the United Arab Emirates received the bars, the opposition claims.

The investment firm Noor Capital from Abu Dhabi received 27 tons of gold, and the Venezuelan authorities managed to sell another 23 tons to a certain Turkish company. This was announced on Twitter by Carlos Paparoni, a member of the Venezuelan parliament, which consists mainly of opponents of Nicolas Maduro. The Reuters agency, which quotes his words, draws attention to the fact that the deputy did not provide any evidence. Paparoni also said that as of Monday, the Maduro administration has been unable to transfer money between its accounts in European Union banks. Earlier, the Venezuelan opposition suspected that the country's authorities had taken part of the gold reserves to Russia.

Novaya Gazeta published an investigation about a Russian plane that could have transferred gold for sale in the Emirates. According to some reports, 30 tons of Venezuelan gold were stored in the Russian Central Bank. The Central Bank denies this. Experts say the Maduro administration is selling gold to raise cash to pay off security forces.

Earlier, Bloomberg reported that Venezuelan authorities postponed the sale of another 20 tons of gold due to the noise.

The Russian leadership is beginning to doubt the viability of the regime of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro - News - Echo of Moscow, 02/06/2019