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Russian leader visits Venezuela in show of defiance
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Russian leader visits Venezuela in show of defiance
AFP - 2 hours 27 minutes ago
CARACAS (AFP) - - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday arrived here for talks with Venezuela's anti-US leader Hugo Chavez, on a visit that brings Moscow's military muscle-flexing close to US shores.
The Russian leader was to hold talks with the Venezuelan president before visiting Russian battleships that are in Venezuela for exercises in the Caribbean Sea.
Medvedev's visit is part of a Latin American tour aimed at revitalizing Cold War-era ties with left-leaning countries of the region and is seen as a bid to rebuff US moves in former Soviet lands.
Chavez was also hosting the presidents of Bolivia, Dominica, Ecuador, Honduras and Nicaragua, for a meeting of an economic group designed to counter US influence.
The arrival of the Russian warships led by a nuclear-powered cruiser has been portrayed by Russian media as mirroring US deployments in the Black Sea in support of Moscow's adversary Georgia.
Underlining Moscow's military assertiveness, Russia on Wednesday test-fired an inter-continental ballistic missile that hit a target in the Russian Far East 6,000 kilometers (4,000 miles) from its launch pad.
The Russian ships moored in the port of La Guaira are due to hold patrol and rescue exercises with Venezuelan forces starting on December 1.
Russian officials have denied the exercises are aimed at "third countries" and Venezuela's president rejected talk of provocation on Monday, describing the exercises as an exchange between "free, sovereign countries."
However the flamboyant Venezuelan leader has joined forces with Medvedev and his influential predecessor Vladimir Putin in denouncing US power and plans by George W. Bush's administration for missile defense facilities in eastern Europe.
In September, Chavez described Russian air force exercises over Venezuela as a "warning" to the US "empire."
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice denied that the arrival of Russian ships reflected any change in the regional power balance, saying: "I just don't think there's any question about who has the preponderance of power in the Western Hemisphere.
"A few Russian ships is not going to change the balance of power," she said.
On a tour that also includes Peru, Brazil and Cuba, Medvedev has said he wants to restore "privileged relations" with Latin American countries that had close ties to the Soviet Union in the Cold War, when the region was the scene of fierce superpower rivalry.
Medvedev signed accords to deepen military cooperation with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Brazil earlier, but they did not close concrete deals.
Russia has been a major arms supplier to Venezuela, providing radars, fighter jets, helicopters and tens of thousands of Kalashnikov rifles and prompting concern from the United States and its ally Colombia about a potential arms race and destabilization.
However the Russian newspaper Kommersant, which has consistently sniped at Medvedev's tour, said there was little chance of new contracts being signed this week.
Some analysts have detected an element of bluff in the Russian moves, saying that the economic crisis buffeting Russia is likely to hinder plans such as possible involvement in a South American gas pipeline.
Others have criticized the timing of Russia's show of defiance given a wave of international goodwill towards the United States after Barack Obama won the country's presidential election.
Venezuela's state-run energy company is expected to sign a deal with five Russian oil companies to produce and refine Venezuelan oil in the Orinoco Basin.
But Kommersant said Russian energy companies were unlikely to find funds for major investment in Venezuela in the current economic climate, while Chavez's own political position and election victories by opposition forces in oil-rich regions raised fresh questions for the companies.
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Enlarge Photo
Russian Udaloy-class Admiral Chabanenko anti-submarine vessel crewmen stand in attention on the deck as a salvo is fired in salutation, upon her arrival at the port of La Guaira, on November 25, 2008. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday arrived here for talks with Venezuela's anti-US leader Hugo Chavez, on a visit that brings Moscow's military muscle-flexing close to US shores.
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