Bring Kuz to Venezuela, which is of relatively small interest to them, so they can have more US presence in Ukraine 500 km from Moscow?
But the US has a presence in the Ukraine anyway... whether Russia does anything or not... the US also has a presence in Georgia and the baltic states and Poland and soon Finland too... do you think this process is going to stop for no reason at all?
US Jupiter missiles in Turkey didn't leave by themselves... it took Soviet missiles in Cuba to make them rethink their policy of putting nukes near Moscow... seems they need another gesture now too, but this isn't just about Venezuela... why would any country want to trade with Russia if there is a risk that the US might decide to impose sanctions and steal their resources... they are actually interested in all sorts of materials other than oil too you know...
The long-term price they could pay and the risks are too high. They mitigated this lately with stepping up the defence with hypersonic missiles and eventually going to Syria, but that's about it. The US has too high leverage over Russia right now. Not fixing Ukraine problem will limit the likelihood of intervention in Venezuela.
I would say the opposite... US leverage is getting less and less because when you use links to force others to do as you tell them those links get broken pretty quickly and the US has less and less leverage... they already used the EU as leverage too and there were rather more links between the EU and Russia, which are now in tatters... most of the broken connections have been solved with investment and development of Russian solutions or increased trade with China and other countries.
The future of Russia will be separate from the future of the US... I am sure when Trump leaves office there is going to be a backlash at all the damage he has done internationally, but the fact that there are only two political parties in the US and they both love bashing Russia I don't think a new election and a change of government will make very much difference... Russia is not seen as a potential ally, it is a rival... and a serious rival that is literally a threat to US leadership of the world (in their eyes).
Russia will need a strong navy because there is no way it can assume international justice in its favour ever again.
If Russia wants a future, it needs trading partners and its old eastern european partners have all jumped in to bed with the EU and US and they don't approve of bed sharing... the Ukraine cannot be a friend to the west and to Russia at the same time... they never say why... you just can't.
In such a situation Russia needs mobile and powerful surface naval groups that can operate world wide for extended periods and ensure open sea lines of communication... it is OK they don't have to be the worlds police... they don't have to keep every sea lane open, but they do need to protect their trade and the trade of their allies when needed... they can't do that with Corvettes and Frigates and a helicopter carrier no matter what combination of letters you use to describe it.
Where does Shchuka-B come in? As I said, SSKs are more needed than SSNs. They've been following this idea for some time now and it is as true now as it was in December. It will help them press on Kiev, Berlin and Tokyo, which is strategically a priority over losing Maduro.
I agree that right now Ladas are important, but they have already put in a big order... they will be delivered at the rate they come and no faster... SSNs are also valuable because they are actually SSGNs too... why not have both?
Offensive investing in CVNs and SSNs, this is the US doctrine.
No it isn't. A CVN is to protect other Russian ships and sub groupings... it is not the purpose of the grouping.
Russia is globally still on defensive positon, as it was in the entire Soviet era, no matter how they pretend do be free and trade with African countries. The only hope for world multipolarity is either their alliance with China or taking care of their neighbourhood issues, both of which is gradually taking place.
Their neighbourhood issues are never going to change... even if someone waves a magic wand and Kiev has real elections that all of the Ukraine participates in and they are free and fair and everyone accepts the results they are not suddenly going to become an ally of Russia... they are still going to be focussed on the west for future growth and development... hell the west might even purposely rig the election so the anti EU people win just so they don't have to pay the cost of rebuilding and restoring the Ukraine to something resembling a normal country... someone is going to have to spend hundreds of billions of dollars to fix them and you can bet your ass it wont be the US...
I am not suggesting Russia needs 13 carrier groups with CVNs and needs to become the worlds policeman and fight the US and UK and France for control of the high seas, but what they do need is the ability to protect allies from the shit the US and the west is pulling on Venezuela right now and what they tried to pull on Syria and Libya and Kosovo and Georgia.
Now Georgia proved that even if they had 13 carrier groups and all the power of the US... sometimes you can't do much except talk... sometimes the country involved is too far away from you and too close to the other guy for you to do anything about it... Kosovo is the same for Russia... a couple of carrier groups would not have helped there either...
But then if a huge navy and an enormous budget and spying tools that would give the Stasi an enormous collective errection are not enough sometimes then nothing Russia could manage will make them omnipotent... but that is not the goal.
For a country like Venezuela to choose Maduro, they need to be sure the US wont bowl in and change things... and currently the only things stopping that are Russia, China, Cuba, Turkey, and a few other countries that are not total bitches to the US...
Russia developing a global naval reach means there can be an alternative to the unipolar American reality.
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but is there any website/documents/papers... that I can dig in for more information about that issue ?
