Ukraine's Foreign Ministry dismissed Russian claims of having a "sphere of influence" comparable to the United States, with spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi offering a biting response to Russian sources who suggested the Kremlin could benefit from Washington's capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.
The exchange cuts to the heart of Russia's negotiating strategy on Ukraine. Moscow has long sought Western recognition of a "post-Soviet space" where it holds special rights—a framing that would recast its invasion of Ukraine as legitimate great-power politics rather than illegal aggression.
Ukraine's blunt rejection, backed by a litany of recent Russian failures from Syria to Venezuela, signals Kyiv will not accept being traded as a bargaining chip in any superpower deal.
Russia's hopes for a grand bargain
The exchange follows a Reuters report in which an anonymous senior Russian source claimed that after the US operation in Venezuela, "Russia also has its own sphere of influence." The source referenced the Trump administration's revival of the Monroe Doctrine, suggesting Moscow could now expect similar latitude in what it considers its "backyard."
This echoes a proposal Russia floated years earlier. Former Trump adviser Fiona Hill testified to Congress in 2019 that Russian officials "were signaling very strongly that they wanted to somehow make some very strange swap arrangement between Venezuela and Ukraine."
The Russian messaging was blunt: "You want us out of your backyard. Well, you know, we have our own version of this. You're in our backyard in Ukraine," Hill recounted.
Ukraine: "Where were Russia's borders when Prigozhin marched on Moscow?"
Tykhyi responded to the Reuters report with characteristic Ukrainian directness.
"Overcompensating Russian 'sources' are spewing hot air about 'zones of influence,'" he wrote on X. "I wonder where the borders of their zone of influence were when Prigozhin's gang marched on Moscow, making them tremble with fear. Perhaps it was limited to Putin's poop suitcase. And it still is."
The reference to Putin's infamous traveling toilet—a security measure the Russian president reportedly uses to prevent foreign intelligence from analyzing his waste—underscored Kyiv's contempt for Moscow's grandiose pretensions.
Andriy Kovalenko, head of Ukraine's Center for Countering Disinformation, piled on: "Russia lost the Caucasus, Syria, Moldova, Venezuela—what control over the 'post-USSR' are they talking about there?"
He described Russian expectations as "the sick fantasies of losers who, after a certain time, will be forced to voluntarily share territories with China."
A shrinking empire
Ukraine's mockery reflects a strategic reality. Over the past year, Russia has watched its global position erode dramatically. The Assad regime in Syria—which Moscow propped up since 2015—collapsed in December 2024, forcing a hasty Russian evacuation from bases that served as Moscow's Mediterranean foothold.
Now Maduro sits in a New York jail, eight months after signing a "strategic partnership" with his "dear friend" Putin.
Russian analyst Mark Galeotti told RFE/RL the Kremlin hopes Trump's Venezuela operation signals acceptance of great-power spheres: "If we are going to let America have its Latin American sphere of influence, then the corollary is, we should be allowed our Slavic one."
But Sam Greene, a professor at the Russia Institute at King's College London, suggested Moscow will be disappointed: "Unless carte blanche to act in Ukraine is forthcoming in short order, Moscow will chalk this down as standard American hypocrisy."
The false equivalence
Ukraine's response highlights a fundamental flaw in Russia's reasoning. Venezuela was a distant client state where Russia maintained limited military advisers and economic interests. Ukraine is a sovereign European nation of 40 million people that has fought for nearly four years against a full-scale Russian invasion.
The comparison reveals more about Moscow's worldview than its actual capabilities. Venezuela under Maduro was a dictatorship propped up by foreign support. Ukraine is a sovereign nation that has fought for nearly four years to repel a full-scale invasion—and imposed devastating costs on the Russian army in the process.
As Kovalenko put it: "There will be no control over the 'post-USSR' territories in Russia. They will not be the 'policeman of Europe.'"
