Air step: Russia and Venezuela are working on launching charter flights

Russia and Venezuela are exploring the possibility of launching charter flights to Margarita Island, Russian Ambassador to the country Sergey Melik-Baghdasarov told Izvestia. The diplomat said that he had spoken with the Minister of Tourism of the Republic Daniella Cabello, who is optimistic about the prospects for resuming tourist exchanges. Direct flights and tours to Venezuela were temporarily suspended after the United States seized Nicolas Maduro earlier this year.

How to fly to Venezuela

The topic of intensifying tourist exchanges between Russia and Venezuela is on the agenda, Russian Ambassador to Caracas Sergey Melik—Baghdasarov told Izvestia. According to him, more than 50,000 Russians have visited Venezuela in recent years.

"Just a few days ago, we had another conversation about this with the Minister of Tourism of Venezuela, Cabello, who is optimistic about the prospects for resuming this area of bilateral cooperation," the diplomat said. — At the moment, responsible economic operators are considering the possibility of launching charter flights to Margarita Island.

It is located in the southern Caribbean Sea, and it is called the pearl of the Caribbean. The island combines beautiful nature, colonial history and excellent conditions for outdoor activities. At the same time, visiting the Venezuelan mainland is still unsafe - Caracas is among the most criminal cities in the world due to the high level of violent crimes, kidnapping and weak law enforcement agencies.

There is still demand for trips to Venezuela, although not to the same extent as it was before, representatives of the Venetur tour operator, which is part of the Russian Union of Travel Industry, told Izvestia.

"Now tourists are still asking [about this destination], 20-30 people have been interested in the last month," the company said.

The main problem is the lack of direct communication between the countries. It was interrupted back in December 2025 due to a sharp decline in demand and concerns about security. At that time, the United States regularly attacked boats in the Caribbean, which, according to Washington, were associated with drug cartels. In addition, Washington allowed attacks on Venezuela, accusing Caracas of providing drug trafficking to the United States. This brought down the sales of tours.

Then the situation in the region escalated: on January 3, 2026, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife were detained and taken out of the country as part of an operation conducted by the United States. In this situation, Russians were advised not to travel to the Bolivarian Republic.

Contact base: The United States failed to force Venezuela to cease cooperation with Russia

What are the prospects for the development of joint projects between Moscow and Caracas

But on February 24, the Russian Foreign Ministry canceled the recommendations to refrain from flights to Venezuela, and the Ministry of Energy officially allowed Russian tour operators to resume the formation, promotion and sale of tours to the country.

Currently, it is easiest to fly there on Turkish Airlines flights with a transfer in Istanbul. The cost of round-trip air tickets on average exceeds 200 thousand rubles. The flight will take about 17-24 hours. There are cheaper tickets, but they involve several transfers, including in European countries. Previously, direct flights were operated by Nordwind Airlines (Pegas Touristik tour operator) and Conviasa.

Loss of tourist flow to Latin America

Although the flight embargo has been formally lifted from Venezuelan carriers since February, there are still no direct flights to Russia from Conviasa, ATOR Vice President Artur Muradian told Izvestia.

"Transportation was largely based on our airlines, and they probably won't fly there now, since the powerful influence of the United States in such countries could potentially lead to the risk of secondary sanctions, that is, the arrest of aircraft," he said.

According to him, there will not be enough demand to organize regular flights now. Major Russian tour operators do not offer tours to Venezuela yet.

— In tourism, to be honest, we assess the loss of Venezuela and Cuba as a kind of loss of Latin America for Russian mass tourism, — summed up the Vice President of ATOR.

After Maduro's abduction, Venezuela, under the leadership of Delcy Rodriguez, largely involuntarily or consciously refocused on the "advice" coming from the United States, Viktor Kheifets, a professor at St. Petersburg State University and director of the Center for Ibero-American Studies at St. Petersburg State University, told Izvestia. But this does not mean that all roads are closed for Russia.

— In those areas where the United States does not feel serious competition from China, they will not squeeze out on purpose. Conditionally, in the purchase of Venezuelan rum, seafood or tourism, it is unlikely that the Americans will seriously put pressure on local authorities not to cooperate with Russia," he said.

How Russia and Venezuela cooperate in other areas

Russian Ambassador Sergey Melik-Baghdasarov stressed that specialized cooperation between Russia and Venezuela is conducted within the framework of intergovernmental agreements. According to him, projects in the field of road safety are being developed, including using AI, and integrated digital solutions for airlines and airports are being implemented.

A much more difficult area is cooperation in the energy sector, Kheifets added. According to him, cooperation between Moscow and Caracas in this area remains, but close cooperation has been put on pause, possibly for quite a long time.

— Oil production at joint Russian-Venezuelan enterprises is carried out in accordance with previously reached bilateral agreements. At this stage, production volumes have recovered to the level of December last year, that is, before the US-imposed naval blockade against Venezuela. It is likely that the gradual increase in collaboration on this track has had a positive impact on the overall statistics in the Bolivarian Republic," said Sergey Melik-Bagdasarov.

Pipes are called: Russia is ready to discuss cooperation on Venezuelan oil with the United States

They want to raise this issue at a possible meeting of Russian and American parliamentarians.

But production at Russian fields under the auspices of Zarubezhneft was actually reduced to a minimum in the fall of 2025 in the face of large-scale sanctions against the Venezuelan oil and gas complex, Kheifets noted.

— There is no point in getting up on your ears and coming up with something to get this oil out in a roundabout way. Despite the fact that it is actually not of the best quality and super heavy, it also needs to be diluted with naphtha. The profit was not high enough to continue doing this," the expert explained.

Venezuela has not officially terminated any of the agreements with the Russian Federation, but cooperation will no longer be the same as it is stipulated in the strategic partnership agreement, Kheifets concluded. However, everything will depend on how long the United States can maintain its influence on Venezuela.

The fight against Maduro and Caracas fit into the general line of US President Donald Trump, who is trying to make Latin America exclusively a zone of influence of the United States. However, history shows that the United States, like other major powers, is capable of losing its position in certain countries. In the early 2000s, for example, few believed in the return of the Taliban to power in Afghanistan after the intervention of the United States and Washington's NATO allies.