http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp...3tkXL757R6ehEQ
Venezuela to buy Russian arms, tanks: Chavez
(AFP) – 4 hours ago
CARACAS — President Hugo Chavez said Venezuela would purchase dozens of Russian tanks, in a move signaling growing military ties between the two countries that have frequently clashed with Washington.
"It will be a major arms agreement to increase our defense capability," the Venezuelan leader told reporters, noting that he hoped to ink other agreements on agriculture, oil and mining during his visit to Moscow in mid-September.
Between 2005 and 2007, Moscow and Caracas signed 12 arms deals worth a total 4.4 billion dollars. Venezuela has acquired 24 Sukhoi fighter planes, 50 combat helicopters and 100,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles. In 2008, it secured a one-billion-dollar loan for the purchase of new weaponry.
Under the new deal, Venezuela would buy a modern battalion of "30 to 40" Russian-made BMP-3, T-72 and MPR tanks, Chavez said following a telephone conversation with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
"Our army will continue to grow," vowed Chavez, who is leading a leftist surge in Latin America and repeatedly lambasts the United States for perceived "imperialist" policies in the region.
Chavez denounced Colombia's plans to open seven bases on its soil to the US military to boost Washington's counternarcotics operations in the region, calling them "a threat."
"I do not want to spend a penny on arms, and that is what I did in the early years of the government... But the (US) empire wanted to disarm us and if not for Russia, we would be virtually unarmed," he said.
Bogota's plans have been met with fierce opposition in South America, prompting Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, a close US ally, to undertake a regional tour this week to tamp down the criticism....
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From the Venezuelan press:
http://www. vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=82492
PRAVDA: USA to topple Venezuela's Chavez through "indirect approach strategy"
Published: Monday, August 03, 2009
Russia's PRAVDA (Vadim Trukhachev): a political scandal, capable to develop into a great conflict, has burst out in South America. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, known for his anti-American sentiments, decided to freeze the relations with Colombia, a close US ally in the region. Venezuela was outraged by accusations presented by Colombian vice president Francisco Santos on July 27. The latter was quoted as saying that the Swedish anti-tank weapons found their way to FARC rebels, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. Venezuela supposedly bought those arms from Sweden during the 1980s.
Moreover, Colombia is worried by appearance radical Shiite movement Hezbollah in Venezuela and the government's inaction regarding the issue of drug trafficking.
....Experts hold an opinion that the USA tries to discredit Chavez and conducts an information war against him in order to topple the stubborn Venezuelan President.
It goes without saying that the USA is not going to send troops to Venezuela ... the USA acts indirectly through its ally ... military experts call it the indirect approach strategy.
http://newsfromrussia.com/world/asia...sa_venezuela-0