Venezuela and Russia have signed 17 new agreements, in what was described as further consolidation of the “pressure-free” bilateral relationship between them.

During a visit by a senior Kremlin official to Caracas on Thursday, the two sides signed the new agreements in energy cooperation and petroleum exploration as well as in the security area on “intelligence, counterintelligence and counterespionage issues.”

Visiting Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko, who heads the Russian part of the Intergovernmental Russian-Venezuelan High-Level Commission (CIAN), told his Venezuelan counterpart Delcy Rodriguez that his country stood ready to support Venezuela’s armed forces with “the most sophisticated weapons and military equipment.”

The Russian delegation also met with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, before inking several documents, including the outline of key cooperation areas until 2030. 

During the Thursday ceremony at the Miraflores Palace, Maduro expressed his satisfaction with the work carried out by both the Venezuelan and Russian teams at CIAN. He said the new agreements would “seal and strengthen the path of union and cooperation” between Venezuela and Russia, “from now until 2030 and beyond.”

“This meeting, 20 years after the High Level Commission between both nations was founded, is one of satisfaction for the work, the spirit of friendship and brotherhood that increasingly unites Russia and Venezuela,” he said.

The Latin American leader added that Caracas and Moscow are building an “impregnable” “win-win” relationship that is “free of pressure, blackmail and sanctions”.

The 17 new agreements signed between the two countries are added to the more than 300 bilateral cooperation instruments which were signed before in the fields of finance, energy, industry, commerce, customs, transportation and tourism, agriculture, fishing and food, science and technology, education, health, culture, sports and youth, among others areas of bilateral cooperation.

Venezuela has one of the world’s largest natural gas reserves and the world’s largest proven reserves of oil. Russia is Eurasia energy giant. However, both countries’ energy sectors face sanctions by the United States.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has repeatedly censured American leaders over Washington’s foreign policy which is aimed “to preserve their domination, hegemony and diktat” by targeting other countries with “blackmail, ultimatums, threats.”

oscow and Caracas founded the CIAN in 2004 under the guidance of President Nicolas Maduro’s predecessor, the iconic leftist leader Hugo Chavez who led the country’s anti-US stance from 1999 until his death in 2013. It administers hundreds of agreements with the aim of deepening and extending strategic ties between the two nations.

In a meeting with Venezuela’s Vice President delegation back in late September, Chernyshenko had said that “Russian-Venezuelan cooperation is on the rise. This can be proven by intense dynamics of bilateral contacts and mutual support in the face of Western pressure on our countries.”

Venezuela’s Vice President said Russia and Venezuela were safe countries for the other side to invest. “I believe that cooperation between Russia and Venezuela will become an important step towards creating a new world, where our nations will be able to build a promising future. Russia, China, and India are important allies of ours in this matter. Today, we have held a series of productive meetings that highlighted our determination to strengthen the ties between the two countries. Venezuela fully intends to further develop cooperation with Russia.”