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U.S. think tank denounces joint Chinese, Russian, and Iranian military exercises in Venezuela

President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela attends a 2018 military exercise in Caracas. Photo: StringerAL/Shutterstock
President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela attends a 2018 military exercise in Caracas. Photo: StringerAL/Shutterstock

Forces from China, Russia, Iran, and another ten countries will carry out joint military exercises in Venezuela next month, according to the Center for a Secure Free Society (SFS), a U.S.-based national security think tank.

The U.S. has been especially worried about the advances of its geopolitical competitors in the region, calling out the recent tightening of relations between Nicaragua and Russia a “provocation by the Nicaraguan regime.”

The government of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela recently paraded a series of Iranian drones, and the country has been an ally of Russia and China since the days of Mr. Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chávez, who severed many of his country’s historic ties with the U.S.

The SFS highlights recent declarations by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who said Washington “has not realized the era of a unipolar world is over,” amid rising global tensions between East and West over the war in Ukraine.