The presidents of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, and Russia, Vladimir Putin, held a video call on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of relations between the two countries.
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00:00Nikolas, good afternoon.
00:12Good afternoon.
00:13Can you hear me?
00:16Esteemed President Maduro, dear friend, I am glad to have this chance to talk to you
00:27directly via video link.
00:29Our conversation is dedicated to the milestone event, the 80th anniversary of establishing
00:36diplomatic relations between our countries, and I would like to congratulate you from
00:41the bottom of my heart, to congratulate you and all our Venezuelan friends with this anniversary.
00:47We have exchanged messages and both sides emphasized our satisfaction with the current
00:54level of the Russian-Venezuelan relations, and we expressed our interest in continuing
01:01developing these relations in the spirit of friendship and absolute mutual understanding.
01:07Russian-Venezuelan ties have a long history, and it has a lot of impressive chapters.
01:16Back in the 18th century, the national hero of Venezuela visited Russia, Francisco de
01:20Miranda, and Empress Catherine the Great bestowed him with the title of Colonel of the Russian
01:30Army.
01:31And she even gave him Russian citizenship, and in the mid-19th century, the Russian Empire
01:38acknowledged and recognized the independence of Venezuela, which became an official start
01:46for the interstate contacts.
01:49But in March 1945, when the diplomatic war established, it created conditions for regular
01:56political dialogue to be maintained, to expand trade and humanitarian ties.
02:04This phase of the Russian-Venezuelan cooperation owes a lot to President Hugo Chávez.
02:13I remember with warmth all our conversations.
02:18It is due to his personal contribution, to his ideas, to the steps that he took, we managed
02:24to make a breakthrough in strengthening cooperation between our states.
02:29Currently, our relations have reached the level of strategic partnership, and today
02:35the cause of Comandante is continued by you, President Maduro.
02:40You are standing for the sovereignty of your country and its course towards the close cooperation
02:47with Russia that is based on friendship, mutual trust and consideration for the interests
02:56of each other.
02:58On our part, we are doing everything that we can to give even a bigger impetus to work
03:07even more closely in trade and culture, in technical matters, in humanitarian areas.
03:16And with satisfaction, I would like to note that we have agreed on the agreement on strategic
03:22partnership and cooperation that is going to lay a good, strong foundation for further
03:28expansion of multidimensional ties between our countries in the long term.
03:35We can sign it during your visit to Russia at your convenience, and I would be happy
03:41to see you in Moscow at the celebrations dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the great victory
03:49in the Great Patriotic War, and we remember that during the difficult years of fighting
03:56against Nazism, Venezuela joined the anti-hythorite coalition, and Venezuelan fuel played an important
04:07role.
04:08This fuel was supplied by the family system to our country, it helped our aviation and
04:14other military vehicles to function, to operate.
04:18And now we stand together against any manifestations of neo-Nazism and of neo-colonialism, and
04:25we appreciated that Venezuela supports Russian initiatives at the multilateral platforms.
04:32Russia and Venezuela adhere to similar positions on many matters of the global agenda, many
04:40items of the global agenda.
04:43We strive together to establish more just world order, we promote the principles of
04:49the sovereign equality of the states, of mutually beneficial cooperation without any interference
04:54from the outside into the domestic affairs.
04:57The further strengthening of the Russian-Venezuelan strategic partnership across the board in
05:02all the sectors is in the interest of the harmonious development of our both states.
05:10My dear friend, my dear colleague, I would like to congratulate you once again, I would
05:14like to congratulate you and the Venezuelan people on the anniversary of the diplomatic
05:19relations between our countries.
05:22President Putin, I would like to send my best regards and my embrace of solidarity and of
05:36brotherly sentiment, of eternal support for you and the Russian people.
05:42We can still remember our summit in Kazan during the BRICS summit, our meeting during
05:52the BRICS summit, and we discussed some shared criteria for the new world that is coming
06:03about.
06:04This is the world that is in tune with our Bolivarian concept, so it is going to be multi-polar,
06:14polycentric world.
06:15This will be the world where the mutual respect, where the cooperation is something that is
06:24going to be the essence of cooperation between the states, between the countries.
06:30You remember Francisco de Miranda, our General, who contributed a lot to the cause of our
06:42independence.
06:43He had joined us from the French army, and he later became Cardinal of the Russian army.
06:54And he was a token of this rapprochement between the two countries, between Venezuela and Russia.
07:01He was a truly great South American, and he fought for the independence of South American
07:10nations, and he also did a lot for the people of Russia.
07:16Another chapter in our history, important chapter, is Russia and its recognition of
07:22our independence.
07:24It helped Bolivar's Bolivar's army with weapons back in 1840s, and you also remember
07:36Colonel Comandante Gochavez, he launched a great era, a great epoch, and we can call
07:44it that, and launched the new types of relations between our countries that are growing better
07:51and better, I might say, and now we are entering the phase when our relations, relations between
08:03Russia and Venezuela, are growing even more mature, when we start trusting each other
08:09more and more, because our stance on the strategic vision of the world development, of the global
08:16development is coinciding, and we have a practical understanding that a new world is possible.
08:23We know that it is possible to build relations, to develop relations based on mutual respect.
08:29We know that it is possible, and as you know, we work jointly to continue with this progress,
08:37with the progress along this path, and we will join you with the celebrations of the
08:4680th anniversary of the great victory, so I would like to congratulate the Russian people
08:53already now on this anniversary, on the anniversary of the great victory in the Great Patriotic War,
09:00because that's something that the entire mankind must cherish, because it is impossible to understand
09:07the humankind history without understanding our joint victory over the Nazis, and in Venezuela,
09:16I have already given instructions to celebrate, to celebrate on high level,
09:26both on the political level, on popular level, and from the political point of view,
09:32so we are going to celebrate these days as well, and we are going to inaugurate a large monument
09:38dedicated to the liberators, to the Red Army, to the Soviet Army,
09:52and I hope that we will have a chance to sign an agreement during that date,
09:57an agreement on strategic partnership between Russia and Venezuela that will help us to,
10:03that will help us bring our relations to the highest level possible, our relations across
10:09the board, as we've mentioned in trade and economy, in financial matters, in banking matters,
10:15our cooperation in energy that is going to grow even stronger, our cooperation in industry,
10:23in public healthcare, in transportation, in agriculture, in space exploration,
10:31in minerals use, our cooperation in tourism, in science, in education, in culture, in sports,
10:40and so on and so forth. So, as I've mentioned, we have reached the highest level of mutual
10:52understanding of the maturity of the relations between the two countries, and I am confident
10:58that the 80th anniversary of our relations for 80 years,
11:11we've been working together, our modest country made a modest contribution to the victory over
11:17the Nazism, and now 80 years later, we still work together, we work jointly,
11:24and I'm happy that like this, by video link, we have a chance to celebrate the 80th anniversary
11:34of our relations, and further, we will celebrate the 80th anniversary of the great victory.
11:39I'm very happy, Mr. President.