Did Fiona Hill warn us of a Russian deal involving Ukraine and Venezuela?
Yes. "During her 2019 testimony to the U.S. Congress, former National Security Council official Fiona Hill stated that Russia was "signaling very strongly that they wanted to somehow make some very strange swap arrangement between Venezuela and Ukraine".
Hill, a top Russia expert, explained that Russia was implicitly offering to end its support for the Venezuelan regime in exchange for the United States' acquiescence to Russian dominance in Ukraine. The underlying message from Moscow was essentially: "You have your Monroe doctrine; you want us out of your backyard. Well, we have our own version of this. You're in our backyard in Ukraine".
This suggested an attempt by Russia to negotiate spheres of influence, viewing conflicts as proxy wars where a distant foothold (Venezuela) could be traded for control over a neighboring country considered part of its "near abroad" (Ukraine). The issue gained renewed attention in light of later developments in both Venezuela and Ukraine.
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Putin was supporting Maduro in trump's first term while the US was supporting Ukraine. Putin offered to trade Venezuela for Ukraine by withdrawing Russia's support for Venezuela in exchange for the US withdrawing support for Ukraine. I am shocked that trump waited until now to take Putin up on this deal.
Link to tweet
https://hromadske.ua/en/posts/russians-wanted-ukraine-in-exchange-for-venezuela-diplomat-fiona-hill-in-congress
In the spring of 2019, Russia sent hundreds of "operators" to Venezuela to support the regime of Nicolás Maduro, on whose resignation the United States insisted. At the same time, Moscow made it clear to Washington that they were ready to end their support for them, but only in exchange for Ukraine.
"The Russians [...] were signaling very strongly that they wanted to somehow make some very strange swap arrangement between Venezuela and Ukraine: [...] You want us out of your backyard [...]We have our own version of this. You're in our backyard in Ukraine. And we were getting that sent to us, kind of informally through channels. It was in the Russian press, various commentators,” says Fiona Hill at the U.S. Congress.
A former intelligence officer and later a diplomat, she served as the Senior Director of the U.S. National Security Council specializing in Russian and European affairs for the last two years. On November 21, Hill testified publicly in Congress as part of an investigation into the impeachment of President Donald Trump. And on October 14, the diplomat spoke at a closed session of Congress. The transcript of the speech was published on the website of the Intelligence Committee.