Venezuela as a pivotal country in Russia's reconfiguration in Latin America: An analysis of strategic cooperation (2000-2025) and its impact on the multipolar order. Keywords: Multipolarity, pivotal country, strategic alliances, Russia, Venezuela

Cooperation between Russia and Venezuela over the last 25 years has reached significant proportions. The aim is to analyze in depth both the nature and implications of this partnership using the category of “pivotal country,” which allows us to understand Venezuela's role in the reconfiguration of Russian power in Latin America, while questioning how this partnership contributes to the formation of a new multipolar world order, since Venezuela is undoubtedly one of the key players in the projection of Russian power in Latin America today. In turn, the alliance is characterized by multilevel and multifaceted cooperation covering areas as diverse as energy, defense, finance, technology, trade, and culture. Beyond the economic and geopolitical interests of each party, the nature of the partnership seems to be based on a shared vision of a new alternative, multicentric, and multipolar world order.

Over the last two decades, Venezuelan foreign policy has undergone a transition characterized by the incorporation of multiple actors into its associative system and a focus on new and varied horizons. In this regard, the Russian Federation is now Venezuela's main and most important geopolitical ally. This partnership, which initially presented itself as a traditional bilateral cooperation mechanism, has reached global dimensions, as Venezuela has emerged as a key player in Russia's power strategy in Latin America and the Caribbean. This relationship, charged with unexpected political pragmatism, is redefining hemispheric positions in favor of the emergence of a multipolar world and to the detriment of US hegemony.

This relationship also has geopolitical significance due to the dynamics of global power. Analyzing the emergence of new centers of power and the progressive depolarization of the international system is an extremely novel phenomenon in the field of international relations. Global processes in the midst of tectonic transition are being studied, and research of this nature is essential to discover the magnitude of the changes and the role that a peripheral country such as Venezuela may play in such transformations. From a methodological point of view, this is a hermeneutic documentary research project based on the collection and documentation of the extensive agenda of activities carried out by the Russian embassy in Venezuela.