Russlands Verbündete beschweren sich, dass Putin nirgendwo war, als es darauf ankam

*From Bloomberg News reporters Alex Wickham and Alberto Nardelli:*

As President Vladimir Putin focuses his attentions on Russia’s war in Ukraine, his strategic allies around the world have been left feeling neglected — or worse.

In Venezuela, officials now think their years-long security relationship with Moscow was a paper tiger. They’re not alone: From Damascus and Tehran to Havana, over the last 13 months authoritarian regimes which previously benefited from their close ties to the Kremlin have found Russian [support lacking](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-10-09/kazakhstan-armenia-azerbaijan-turn-away-from-putin-s-russia) when it mattered most.

Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad fled to Moscow after Russian military backing withered away. Cuba, lacking a benefactor, is confronting a [humanitarian crisis](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-01-12/european-diplomats-fear-crisis-in-cuba-as-trump-amps-up-pressure) some think could see it become the next domino to fall. Iran was bombed by the US last year and now Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei faces domestic protests on an existential scale, along with the threat of more US military action.

The most potent symbol of Russian’s inattention may be that of Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro languishing in a New York jail. As the remnants of the state security apparatus conduct a post-mortem on how their leader was captured by the US, officials there privately expressed dismay at the failure of their Cuban and Russian partners to help protect him, according to people familiar with the matter.