-Russia supports Maduro
Last week, Juan , president of the National Assembly and opposition leader in Venezuela, announced that he did not recognize the Nicolas Maduro government as a legitimate entity and declared himself a temporary president prompting reverberations not only in Venezuela but also in Russia and the rest of the world.
Following his declaration, U.S. President Donald Trump said in a statement he recognized as the "interim president" of Venezuela.
After these events, Russian President Vladimir Putin talked with Maduro on the telephone and confirmed Russia’s support of the Maduro government.
"Interference in Venezuela's internal affairs is a gross violation of international law," Putin warned.
Holding the world's largest oil reserves, Venezuela is one of Russia's most important trade partners in Latin America. Putin said last month that he strongly condemned any attempt to change the political situation in Venezuela using "force."
Maduro, during a three-day visit to Moscow last month, announced that Russia promised a $6 billion investment in the country's gold and oil sectors.
The Russian government and Russia's largest oil company, Rosneft, is said to have given loans of at least $17 billion to Venezuela since 2006. While Venezuela has had difficulty in repaying significant portions of these loans, Russia has not hesitated in wiping off a significant share of this debt to maintain its key presence in Venezuela.
Venezuela is using most of its revenue from oil exported by state oil company PDVSA to pay for loans from Russia as well as China. In April 2016, Rosneft made a pre-payment of $6 billion for crude oil from PDVSA.
The Russian company was also awarded the right to operate the Patao and Mejillones natural gas fields in Venezuela for 30 years. Rosneft is set to produce 6.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year for the next 15 years from these fields.
-Russia's foreign debt at lowest in last 10 years
Russia's foreign debt declined by 12.4 percent year-on-year in 2018 to $453.7 billion, the lowest level since April 2009, according to data from the Central Bank of Russia published last week.
Private companies own approximately $398 billion of external debt and the state owns $56 billion.
In 2014, Russia’s foreign debt reached $733 billion mainly due to sanctions and with the drop in oil prices.