Venezuela is being kept afloat by hundreds of millions of dollars shipped from Russia, reports suggest, as it struggles to survive crippling US sanctions. A total of $315 million (£245 million) in dollar and euro notes were sent in six separate shipments from
Moscow to Caracas from May 2018 to April 2019, according to data from ImportGenius, which compiled
Russian customs records obtained through private sources. The data was reviewed by Bloomberg. The cash came from lenders run by the countries’ governments, and went to Venezuela’s development bank. The most recent transaction recorded took place in April and consisted of $97 million in notes, which was sent in two loads from Moscow-based Evrofinance Mosnarbank to Venezuela’s development bank, Bandes. Evrofinance is a joint venture between Bandes and Russia’s state property management agency.
Russia has propped up Mr Maduro's isolated regime with military support and cash injections Credit: REUTERS/Marco Bello Bandes was sanctioned in March by the US, which alleges that President Nicolas Maduro uses the bank’s accounts to keep a substantial amount of money abroad, mostly in Europe. In another transaction in January, $113 million worth of 100-euro bills were sent from state-controlled lender Gazprombank, which at the time had a stake in Evrofinance. The same entity made three other recorded shipments. Members of the Venezuelan National Guard stand outside the National Assembly in Caracas Credit: Matias Delacroix / AFP Russia has supported Mr Maduro throughout this turbulent year, propping up his isolated regime with military support and cash injections, to the fury of the US. If correct that money was sent to Mr Maduro in cash, it will be seen as a sign of the desperation of the president, who is confronted by increasingly tough US sanctions. Expelled from global financial systems,
Venezuela has been forced to turn to unorthodox methods of funding – among them secret gold sales and oil shipments. Caracas is also studying the possibility of using cryptocurrencies, or a Russia-run global payment system, to send money. On Friday it emerged that oil spills that have blighted Brazil’s coast for the past two months came from a Greek-flagged tanker, transporting oil from Venezuela to South Africa. Brazil’s defence ministry said a search warrant for the unnamed ship had been issued, while the attorney general's office said the damage to Brazil's coasts was "immeasurable."