Professor Milena Sterio participated in an episode of the Legal Face-Off Radio Program on Chicago’s WGN station.  In this episode, Professor Sterio was interviewed regarding the legality of U.S. action in Venezuela, including the kidnapping of Venezuela’s President Maduro, as well as the prosecution of Maduro and his wife in the Southern District of New York.  The episode is available on the WGN Radio website, as well as on various social media: 

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Professor Sterio concluded that the U.S. actions in Venezuela were illegal under international law as they violated the U.N. Charter as well as corresponding customary law, which bans states from using force against each other.  Professor Sterio also opined that the U.S. prosecution of Maduro in the Southern District of New York will most likely proceed.  She explained that U.S. federal district court judges tend to defer to the executive branch on matters implicating foreign relations and national security. Moreover, there is Supreme Court precedent confirming that a forcibly kidnapped defendant can nonetheless be prosecuted in U.S. court, and precedent from the 1989-90 Panama situation, where the leader of Panama, General Noriega, was prosecuted by U.S. court despite his claims of sovereign immunity.  Last, Professor Sterio discussed legal issues surrounding the enforcement of arrest warrants extra-territorially; she concluded that jurisdiction to enforce is purely territorial under international law and that the U.S. violated international law when it arrested Maduro in Venezuela.  

Professor Milena Sterio appeared on a segment of Bloomberg News live on January 7.  She discussed the legality of the U.S. attacks against Venezuela and the related kidnapping of Nicolas Maduro.  She also focused on legal issues surrounding Maduro’s now ongoing prosecution in the Southern District of New York. 

Professor Sterio also appeared on Fox News – DC on January 7, in a live news segment, where she discussed the recent decision by a federal district judge to request that Lindsay Halligan explain how and why she keeps acting as U.S. Attorney, in light of a November 2025 ruling by a different federal judge, who had ruled that she had been improperly appointed.  

Professor Milena Sterio has been quoted in the media extensively regarding the United States’ attack against Venezuela on Jan. 3.  Professor Sterio was quoted in a Reuters article titled “Legality of US capture of Venezuela’s Maduro in focus at United Nations.”

She was also interviewed by Fox 5 (DC) on January 3, where she offered live commentary following President Trump’s Press Conference. In addition, she was interviewed on the Air Talk radio show (Los Angeles NPR station) on January 5; the episode is available for on-demand listening here.

Finally, she was quoted in a BBC article (“Trump’s seizure of Maduro raises thorny legal questions, in US and abroad“) on January 5.

On October 13, Professor Milena Sterio participated in an expert group discussion, organized by the Cleveland Council on World Affairs, with Latvian State Secretary Aivars Puriņš on European security and US-NATO cooperation.

State Secretary Puriņš traveled to Cleveland as part of a German Marshall Fund Across America trip focused on the state of transatlantic defense cooperation and the deep ties that connect Americans and European communities across the Atlantic. Ohio has a large defense manufacturing sector, and participants in this trip will engage with state and local elected officials, students, and business leaders to further the discussion around what it means to be part of NATO and the importance of the alliance’s role in security and prosperity in the United States and Europe.

Professor Sterio serves on the Cleveland Council on World Affairs’ Board of Directors.