Dana Malcolm 

Staff Writer 

December 11, 2023 – Following contact between Guyana and Venezuela’s foreign ministers, Russia is warning that the neighbors should be left to settle their border dispute peacefully without international interference.

Both countries are at odds over the rights to the Essequibo region, which makes up two-thirds of Guyana’s land and has been found to contain offshore oil reserves.

“We insist that this is a matter of Venezuelan-Guyanese relations, which should be settled in the spirit of good neighborliness by means of peaceful mutually acceptable solutions complying with international law and bilateral agreements, as well as current national laws,” said Maria Zakharova, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson following a diplomatic call between the two countries on December 6th which Russia ‘welcomed.’

The century-long border row erupted again in late 2023, with Venezuela most recently passing a bill in Parliament, declaring that the region is now part of the country’s 24th state.

Venezuela contends that the 19th-century negotiations for the Essequibo region, in which they were represented by the United States, cheated them out of land that was rightfully theirs, and the agreement is now null and void. They want to speak directly with Guyana about where the land border is. Guyana maintains that the initial agreement still stands, and both countries have gone to the UN for a resolution, but that ruling is pending.  Following the discovery of oil offshore, Guyana’s GDP has skyrocketed, and with it, recent Venezuelan interest in Essequibo.

Venezuela’s relationship with the United States is strained, and Russia is warning that there should be no international pressure on either of the countries. It comes as Russia continues a military invasion of Ukraine.

“We object to external pressure and interference in the affairs of sovereign states, moreover when they have sensitive issues in bilateral relations which require ‘prudence’ from third countries both at the public and private levels,” Zakharova told state media house TASS.