Military and political significance of Venezuela for the Russian strategic outlook

The paper examines military and political significance of Venezuela for development of strategic interests of the Russian Federation in the region and defines priorities of strategic confrontation with the USA on the setting of the current relations between the Russian Federation and Venezuela, that under H. Chavez and his successor has become a consistent ally and an economic partner of Russia in Latin America. The strategic significance of Venezuela is attributable to the key location of the state in the region. During the research, the author used general scientific methods of the comparative and statistical analysis of structure and dynamics. Possible scenarios of geopolitical confrontation of Russia and the USA for asserting their ascendancy in South America were analyzed. From this analysis it is possible to conclude that Russia’s presence in Venezuela is determined by economic interests in the oil-extracting industry and strategic proximity of the territory of the state to the USA borders. According to the author, reevaluation of the existing paradigm of the “donation receiving economy of Venezuela” and reorientation of support of the political regime of N. Maduro that has outlived its usefulness may become the new approaches to development of Russia-Venezuela relations