Russia is lashing out as the United States moves aggressively to disrupt illicit oil networks that bankroll hostile regimes and criminal actors across the Western Hemisphere, a pair of national security experts told Newsmax on Thursday.
Earlier in the day, the Kremlin called for countries to show restraint toward Venezuela to avoid what it called unpredictable events, describing rising tensions as "potentially very dangerous."
Retired Army Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer said Moscow's anger has little to do with diplomacy or military posturing and everything to do with money, as U.S. enforcement actions hit the shadow economy Russia depends on to move oil covertly.
"What the Russians are most concerned about is now we're targeting the shadow fleet," Shaffer told Newsmax's "The Chris Salcedo Show."
"They have the same issue regarding moving their oil secretly, as well."
Shaffer said Russia has long relied on deceptive shipping practices, falsified documentation, and covert maritime operations to evade sanctions and keep oil revenues flowing.
"They're not — the Iranians and Venezuelans are not the only ones secretly profiting off of illegal shipments of oil," he said, placing Moscow squarely in the same camp as U.S. adversaries in the region.
According to Shaffer, recent U.S. actions have disrupted that system, throwing off what he called the "balance of economic power" that Russia and its partners had quietly built.
"We have indeed in some ways upset the balance of economic power in the region," he said, adding that Russia's public complaints are a reaction to real financial pain.
Shaffer dismissed Russian protests as political theater, saying Moscow lacks both the authority and the leverage to challenge U.S. enforcement in the Western Hemisphere.
"The Russians can scream all they want," he said. "They're in no position to dictate to us anything, especially in our hemisphere."
Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Blaine Holt echoed that assessment, saying that the fight against the illicit oil trade is part of an effort to dismantle criminal and hostile financial networks.
Holt said these networks often overlap with cartels, sanctioned states, and foreign intelligence services, making economic enforcement a powerful national security tool.
"The war has already been going on. It's just a very different type of hybrid, fifth-generation warfare environment," he said, referring to U.S. conflict with Venezuela.
"Everybody is on the lookout for bombs and invading soldiers and a massive tactical airdrop. Not going to happen.
"The sound of this war is a hum in the fiber optic lines, because all that intelligence is going to a guy named [Treasury Secretary] Scott Bessent, who's using his cool FinCEN [Financial Crimes Enforcement Network] program, and he's rolling up assets all over the world and creating pain for the vascular system that is the cartels," Holt said.
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Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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