Why Putin’s favourite oil firm dumped its Venezuelan assets

ROSNEFT is responsible for 40% of Russia’s oil output, but it is much more than just another oil firm. A large chunk of its shares are owned by the Russian state. Its boss, Igor Sechin, is one of Vladimir Putin’s closest henchmen. A former spook, like the Russian president, he has been at the big man’s side since the 1990s. In 2004-06 Rosneft gobbled up the remains of Yukos, Russia’s largest private oil firm, which was dismembered after its boss challenged Mr Putin. Since then Rosneft has been both a tool of Kremlin power and a driver of policy in its own right. Bear this in mind when trying to make sense of the announcement, on March 28th, that it has sold all its Venezuelan assets to an unnamed Russian government entity.For years the Kremlin has propped up Venezuela’s dictatorship, first under Hugo Chávez, then under his protégé, Nicolás Maduro. Russia has supplied loans, weapons and, lately, mercenaries to keep the regime in power, largely to annoy the United States. America, like many democracies, does not recognise the election-stealing Mr Maduro as Venezuela’s president, and has slapped severe sanctions on his country. Last week it unsealed indictments of Mr Maduro and his cronies for alleged drug-trafficking (see ). Mr Sechin calculates that, if America supports democracies in Russia’s backyard, Russia should support despots in America’s.