Russia sends long-range strategic bombers, nuclear warships, 1k troops to Venezuela for joint military exercises

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Two Russian strategic bombers have landed in Venezuela as part of military maneuvers, the Interfax news agency reported today, at a time when US-Russian relations are at their most strained since the cold war. Interfax cited a Russian defense ministry statement as saying the two Tu-160 strategic bombers landed today to carry out training flights over neutral waters in the next few days before returning to Russia.

The arrival of the Russian strategic warplanes in what the US considers its backyard followed a statement at the weekend by the Venezuelan government saying that four Russian ships would participate in joint exercises in the Caribbean this year. Venezuela said a taskforce including four Russian naval ships and 1,000 Russian military personnel would take part in mid-November exercises with Venezuelan frigates, patrol boats, submarines and aircraft. Confirming a visit would be made, Russia said its ships would include the heavy cruiser Peter the Great and the anti-submarine ship Admiral Chabanenko. Anti-submarine planes would also be sent to Venezuela temporarily, it said.

News of the planned exercise came shortly after Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister and former president, warned that NATO's deployment of several warships to the Black Sea in the aftermath of Russia's invasion of Georgia last month would not go unanswered. The Russian agreement to send planes and ships could be seen as part of a campaign by the Venezuelan president, Hugo Chávez, who never loses an opportunity to take a jab at the US, to build up his military. Chávez has been on an arms-buying spree and has proposed a hemispheric South American defence council aimed at the US.

Thanks to high oil prices, Venezuela – a member of the Opec oil cartel - has been able to spend $4bn (£2.2bn) on weapons since 2004. Bought mostly from Russia, the arms included the purchase of 53 Russian helicopters and 24 Sukhoi fighter jets. Venezuela is buying the rights and technology for a Kalashnikov assault rifle factory near Caracas. During a visit to Russia in July, Chavez said the two countries had formed a strategic partnership and he was buying a Russian missile defence system to thwart a potential US air attack. Venezuela is reported to be considering buying as many as five diesel-powered Russian submarines. The deal would make Venezuela the region's top naval force.

Last year when he was still president, Putin said Russia would permanently resume long-distance patrol flights of strategic bombers, which were suspended in 1992 after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Since then, there have been several incidents in which British fighter planes have scrambled to intercept Russian warplanes.

Chavez has strongly backed Russia's stance on the Georgian conflict and recently visited Moscow to seal a series of defense and economic agreements. He denied that Russia's plans for naval exercises to be held later this year are related, saying the Russian navy's visit had been planned for more than a year. Chavez, a former paratrooper, also said he would fly one of the aircraft himself. "What's more, I'm going to take the controls of one of these monsters," he said. The planes, huge supersonic combat aircraft that can fly long missions with a heavy payload, are capable of carrying nuclear or conventional bombs.

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Photos courtesy of Alexei Panov/AP, Reuters, AFP

Original Source: The Guardian, UK, BBC News and Al Jazeera