Moscow - Venezuela President Hugo Chavez announced new arms
purchases from Russia and and agreed an energy partnership with
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday.
'We want peace, but we have to strengthen our defences,' the
president of the South American nation said at the start of a two-day
visit to Moscow, the news agency Interfax reported.
Russian media reports said Chavez, who is known for his anti-US
rhetoric, planned to negotiate the purchase of diesel-powered
submarines, combat helicopters, tanks and Tor-M1 surface-to-air
missiles.
The Venezuelan leader described Russia as 'a strategic ally' in
the military and energy sectors and said cooperation between the two
sides would guarantee his country's sovereignty.
Chavez and Medvedev looked on as officials from Venezuela's oil
concern PDVSA and representatives of Russia's Gazprom, Lukoil and
TNK-BP signed four cooperation agreements.
One of the deals covers drilling in Venezuela. Another provides
for the creation of a joint venture to process energy supplies.
The talks between Medvedev and Chavez also covered cooperation in
the financial sector where the two nations have been working on the
formation of a joint bank.
Medvedev said the two heads of state also discussed the
possibility of building a rail network for Venezuela with links
extending to rest of South America.
Venezuela is considered the biggest recipient of Russian arms in
South America, with purchases amounting to up to 4 billion dollars so
far.
The new arms deals under discussion would have a value of around 2
billion dollars, according to the newspaper Kommersant.
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