Overview
- Hill told the Associated Press this week that then‑ambassador Anatoly Antonov hinted repeatedly that Moscow would ease off Venezuela if Washington did the same in Ukraine.
- She said she was dispatched to Moscow in April 2019 and told Russian officials, “Ukraine and Venezuela are not related to each other.”
- The signals referenced “backyard” logic tied to the Monroe Doctrine, which President Trump later invoked to justify the U.S. operation in Venezuela, dubbing it the “Donroe Doctrine.”
- Fact‑checks and reporting note there is no independent evidence of a formal swap or that the United States agreed to one.
- Hill’s 2019 remarks resurfaced after the U.S. captured Nicolás Maduro; Russia’s Foreign Ministry condemned U.S. “aggression,” and President Vladimir Putin has not commented.