Russian President Vladimir Putin phones Venezuela's Maduro on Thursday, reaffirming his support for the embattled and isolated South American president, according to officials at the Kremlin.
The call comes just one day after U.S. special operators boarded and seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, reportedly destined for the island of Cuba.
The tanker, ship-named Skipper, was used as part of an international illicit oil shipment network to transport hundreds of thousands of barrels of crude to Venezuelan-allied states like Iran, according to U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi.
The Kremlin has remained a staunch ally of Venezuela since former President Hugo Chávez took over the reins of power in Caracas in 1999.
Russia has since provided strategic political and economic support, as well as aid in bolstering the Maduro regime's state security apparatus, as support for the socialist government in Caracas continues to wane.
"Vladimir Putin expressed solidarity with the Venezuelan people and confirmed his support for the Maduro government's policy aimed at protecting national interests and sovereignty in the face of growing external pressure", reads a statement from officials in Moscow.
The call between Putin and his Venezuelan counterpart also comes in the wake of a controversial Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, where Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado says she was unable to attend in Oslo, Norway, due to claims of security concerns by those close to her.
It has also been reported on early Thursday that Machado managed to abscond from Venezuelan territory with the aid of the United States.
The seizure of ship-name, Kipper, a Guyanese-flagged vessel, stirred harsh reactions from the Maduro government, which alleges that the large-scale deployment of U.S. assets to the region is designed to displace his government from power and take over his nation's vast reserves of oil and gold.
In a speech to supporters in Caracas, President Maduro prepared his countrymen in response to the news of the seizure by saying that the time has come to "break the teeth" of the United States.
