As Juan Guaido launched his latest bid to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from power, world leaders lined up to back their man in the fight.
On the side of Guaido is the US along with most western governments, while Maduro is heavily backed by Russia and its allies, including Cuba, Bolivia and Syria.
At stake for Moscow is proxy control of the world's largest oil reserves, billions of dollars in investments and loans it has given to the Maduro government, and a key foothold in America's back yard from which to project power in the region.
Meanwhile America is hoping to topple the regime and help to install a westernised democracy which would be friendlier toward Washington and bring the country into its sphere of influence.
Nicolas Maduro is facing a challenge to his rule of Venezuela from Juan Guaido, but is being backed by Russia's Vladimir Putin and his allies
Since 2009, Russia and its state-owned oil giant Rosneft have invested almost $9billion in its Venezuelan counterpart PDVSA.
Meanwhile Moscow has also handed the country some $17billion in loans, underwritten by the oil reserves on which Maduro sits - which are the largest anywhere in the world.
Should control of the country swap to Guaido, who is backed by the US, then it is likely that Russia will never see another cent of this money repaid.
Meanwhile Venezuela is also a major buyer of Russian weapons, having purchased $11billion worth of tanks, missile defence systems, fighter jets and other small arms between 2005 and 2013.
The repayments on these weapons will almost certainly be lost if Guaido takes power, while any future weapons orders will likely be taken over by America.
Venezula's military bases, airfields and ports also make it an ideal staging-post for Russian forces in the region.
Key to Russia's backing is Venezuela's huge oil reserves, and billions of
