For the Kremlin, Venezuela Is Not the Next Syria

MOSCOW — President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has long made the buttressing of beleaguered despots a pillar of his foreign policy — most successfully by deploying the military in Syria — to drive home the point that outside powers should not dabble in other countries’ internal affairs.

On the face of it, the upheaval in Venezuela would seem to check all his boxes. Venezuela, however, is not Syria.

It is separated from Russia by thousands of miles of ocean; there is no allied regional power like Iran that Moscow can rely on to do the dirty work on the ground; and with the Russian economy suffering long-term anemia, the Kremlin does not really have the means or the domestic support for another costly overseas adventure.

Nevertheless, the question “What should Russia do?” is raised daily by newspaper columnists and television pundits.