Relations between

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

and

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

were established on 9 January 1992 with the recognition of Ukraine's independence by Venezuela. Both countries have no embassies in the respective other country.

History

1990s

On 9 January 1992, Venezuela recognized Ukraine's independence. In April 1999, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine

Borys Tarasyuk Borys Ivanovych Tarasyuk (; born 1 January 1949) is a Ukrainian politician who twice served as the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and a former MP who is since December 2019 Ukraine's permanent representative to the Council of Europe. ...

paid his first official visit to Venezuela. There, he said that

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

is not a "terra incognita" for Ukrainian foreign policy. Tarasyuk argued that the region is an important market for Ukrainian products and that Ukraine should actively develop contacts with Latin American countries.

2010s

In September 2010, the Venezuelan vice foreign minister Temir Porras Ponceleon visited Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Oleksandr Horin and they discussed a "wide range of issues of Ukrainian-Venezuelan cooperation in political, trade and economic and humanitarian spheres". In October 2010, Venezuelan president

Hugo Chávez Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; ; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician, Bolivarian Revolution, revolutionary, and Officer (armed forces), military officer who served as the 52nd president of Venezuela from 1999 until De ...

met with then-Ukrainian president

Viktor Yanukovych Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych (born 9 July 1950) is a Ukrainian politician who served as the fourth president of Ukraine from 2010 to 2014. He also served as the prime minister of Ukraine several times between 2002 and 2007 and was a member of t ...

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

. The Ukrainian head of state said that "a lot of time has been lost between our two countries" and further noted that the world "can expect a deepening of cooperation" between both of the countries. Chávez visited the

Antonov Antonov (d/b/a Antonov Company, formerly the Aeronautical Scientific-Technical Complex named after Antonov or Antonov ASTC, and earlier the Antonov Design Bureau, for its chief designer, Oleg Antonov) is a Ukrainian aircraft manufacturing and ...

plant in Kyiv and agreed with Yanukovych on establishing embassies of each country in the other country. Both head of states signed agreements regarding the

Odesa–Brody pipeline The Odesa–Brody pipeline (also known as Sarmatia pipeline) is a crude oil Pipeline transport, pipeline between the Ukraine, Ukrainian cities Odesa at the Black Sea, and Brody near the Ukrainian-Poland, Polish border. There are plans to expand t ...

. As agreed during the Kyiv visit, the Ukrainian Foreign minister

Kostyantyn Gryshchenko Kostyantyn Ivanovych Gryshchenko (also spelled Hryshchenko; ; born 28 October 1953) is a Ukrainian diplomat and politician. Since Ukraine gained independence, Kostyantyn Gryshchenko has served in a succession of senior positions with respon ...

paid an official visit to Venezuela in December 2010. The delegation included representatives of ministries, governmental agencies and leading companies of Ukraine, interested in development of cooperation with Venezuela. On 7 March 2014, the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry released a statement which said President

Nicolás Maduro Nicolás Maduro Moros (; born 23 November 1962) is a Venezuelan politician and former union leader serving as the 53rd president of Venezuela since 2013. Previously, he was the 24th Vice President of Venezuela, vice president from 2012 to 20 ...

"condemns the coup perpetrated by extremist groups in Ukraine following an attrition strategy promoted from abroad by the government of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and its

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

allies." It further stated, "the installation in Kyiv of de facto authorities not only threatens Ukraine's national unity, but the stability of the entire region as it places in danger Ukrainian citizens of Russian origin and the

Russian Federation Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

's own sovereignty." Venezuela did not recognize the secession and subsequent accession of Crimea to the Russian Federation. Nevertheless, Venezuela was one of the eleven countries that voted against the

United Nations General Assembly Resolution 68/262 United Nations General Assembly Resolution 68/262 was adopted on 27 March 2014 by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly in response to the Russian annexation of Crimea and entitled "Territorial integrity of Ukraine ...

, approved on 27 March, recognized Crimea as part of Ukraine and rejected the referendum on the political status. Although Venezuela did later recognize the annexation. In late 2014, Oleg Tsaryov, then the speaker of the Parliament of

Novorossiya Novorossiya rus, Новороссия, Novorossiya, p=nəvɐˈrosʲːɪjə, a=Ru-Новороссия.ogg; , ; ; ; "New Russia". is a historical name, used during the era of the Russian Empire for an administrative area that would later becom ...

(a confederation that included the

Donetsk Donetsk ( , ; ; ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin, and Stalino, is an industrial city in eastern Ukraine located on the Kalmius River in Donetsk Oblast, which is currently occupied by Russia as the capita ...

and

Luhansk People's Republic The Luhansk People's Republic (LPR; , ) is a disputed territory administered as a republic of Russia in the occupied parts of eastern Ukraine's Luhansk Oblast, with its capital in Luhansk. The LPR was proclaimed by Russian-backed paramilitar ...

), appealed to Venezuela to recognize the independence of the two separatist republics. Ukraine rejected the results of the

2018 Venezuelan presidential election Presidential elections were held in Venezuela on 20 May 2018, with incumbent Nicolás Maduro being declared reelected for a second six-year term. The original electoral date was scheduled for December 2018 but was subsequently pulled ahead to ...

, where Nicolás Maduro was declared the winner. In 2019, during the

Venezuelan presidential crisis The Venezuelan presidential crisis was a political crisis concerning the leadership and the legitimate president of Venezuela between 2019 and 2023, with the nation and the world divided in support for Nicolás Maduro or Juan Guaidó. Venezu ...

, Ukraine recognized

Juan Guaidó Juan Gerardo Antonio Guaidó Márquez (born 28 July 1983) is a Venezuelan politician and opposition figure. He belonged to the social-democratic party Popular Will, and was a federal deputy to the National Assembly representing the state of V ...

as president of Venezuela.

2020s

In early 2022, the Venezuelan government blamed NATO and the United States for the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, stating that they had violated the

Minsk agreements The Minsk agreements were a series of international agreements which sought to end the Donbas war fought between armed Russian separatist groups and Armed Forces of Ukraine, with Russian regular forces playing a central part. After a defe ...

. Nicolás Maduro said before the invasion was launched that Venezuela was with

Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

, but also urged a diplomatic dialogue to avoid escalating the conflict. José David Chaparro, who served as Venezuela's

chargé d'affaires A (), plural ''chargés d'affaires'', often shortened to ''chargé'' (French) and sometimes in colloquial English to ''charge-D'', is a diplomat who serves as an embassy's chief of mission in the absence of the ambassador. The term is Frenc ...

in Moscow between 2001 and 2005 and settled in Kyiv in the early 90s, enlisted in Ukraine's Territorial Defense Forces in the second day of the invasion along with his wife and became the commander of a division of Ukrainian volunteers. Chaparro's unit has helped donating food, water, commodities and fuel to civilians affected by Russian bombings.

Trade

Currently, trade relations between both countries are minimal. In 2020, Ukraine exported goods worth 4.68 million

US dollars The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...

to Venezuela, mostly seed oils, wheat flours and petroleum. The same year, Venezuela exported goods worth 541,000 $ to Ukraine, mostly processed crustaceans, hard liquor and electric furnaces.''Ukraine / Venezuela'', oec.world (without date).
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ukraine-Venezuela relations

Bilateral relations of Venezuela