Venezuela has been introduced to supposed ally Vladimir Putin’s fickle side

More than a week after Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro was captured and brought back to the United States to stand trial on narcoterrorism charges, officials with the Donald Trump administration are trying to determine how relations with one of South America’s largest countries will evolve in the weeks and months ahead. In between Trump’s threats of more U.S. airstrikes if Venezuela’s post-Maduro government refuses to bend the knee to U.S. demands, Washington and Caracas are exploring a resumption of diplomatic relations after six years in which the United States didn’t have a functioning embassy in Venezuela.

The mood isn’t so sanguine in Moscow. With Maduro’s arrest, Russian President Vladimir Putin watches as yet another one of his partners descends into the depths of despair. In the end, Putin was unable to save Maduro, who traveled to Russia as recently as May to bolster his regime’s ties with Russia. In fact, it was highly unlikely Moscow could play the white knight even if it wanted to.

This isn’t the first time Russia chose to sit on the sidelines as one of its principal foreign partners got into trouble. When Syrian dictator Bashar Assad’s army was disintegrating in the face of a rapid advance by Syrian opposition forces under the command of Ahmad al-Sharaa, all the Russians were willing to do was launch a few symbolic airstrikes and help organize Assad’s getaway to a life in exile. Assad, who relied on the Russian air force to bomb and strafe Syria’s opposition-controlled regions for a decade, suddenly found himself alone, without his main protector, when his family dynasty was on the ropes.