Nicolas Maduro showered Vladimir Putin with praise during his visit to Moscow on Victory Day in May 2025. The Venezuelan leader described Russia as "a key power of humanity" and the two heads of state signed a cooperation agreement. But on January 3, Russia stood back and watched as the US forcibly brought Maduro and his wife to New York, where they are being tried for drug trafficking.
The two-day joint military deployment that kicked off on Sunday is likely to anger China, which claims nearly the entire key waterway and has separate territorial disputes with the two Asian countries.
It's been quite extraordinary that actually so few have gotten through. Now, of course, only one ballistic missile needs to get through the layered air defense system in order to cause terrible casualties and potential devastation.
The partnership between Iran and Russia to produce Iranian-designed drones on Russian soil has deepened military ties between the two heavily sanctioned states and substantially boosted Russia's domestic drone industry.
