Venezuela's Chavez welcomes Russian warshipsBy CHRISTOPHER TOOTHAKER and IAN JAMES, Associated Press Writers Christopher Toothaker And Ian James, Associated Press Writers
2 hrs 39 mins ago
LA GUAIRA, Venezuela – Russian warships arrived off Venezuela's coast Tuesday in a show of strength aimed at the United States as Moscow seeks to expand its influence in Latin America.
The deployment is the first of its kind in the Caribbean since the Cold War and was timed to coincide with President Dmitry Medvedev's visit to Caracas — the first ever by a Russian president.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has eagerly welcomed the Russian ships for joint exercises with his navy, basking in the support of a powerful ally that has sold him billions of dollars in arms and has seen its own chill in relations with Washington.
Chavez wants Russian help to build a nuclear reactor, invest in oil and natural gas projects and bolster his leftist movement's effort to limit U.S. influence in Latin America.
Chavez also wants weapons — he has bought more than $4 billion in Russian arms, including Sukhoi fighter jets, helicopters and 100,000 Kalashnikov rifles, and more deals for Russian tanks or other weaponry may be discussed during Medvedev's visit starting Wednesday.
Russia's deployment of the naval squadron — including the behemoth flagship Peter the Great, a missile destroyer and two support vessels — is widely seen as a demonstration of Kremlin anger over the U.S. decisions to send warships to deliver aid to Georgia after its battles with Russia, and plans for a U.S. missile-defense system in Europe.
Russia sent two strategic bombers to Venezuela in September for a visit that drew comparisons to the Soviet Union's deployments to Cuba during the Cold War.
But Moscow has also shown signs of trying to engage President-elect Barack Obama.
And Chavez told reporters Monday night that it's ludicrous to compare the upcoming naval exercises to a Cold War-type scenario.
"It's not a provocation. It's an exchange between two free countries," Chavez said.
Their ambitions may be checked by global events. Both Venezuela and Russia are feeling the pinch of slumping oil prices, and their ability to be major benefactors for like-minded leaders is in doubt given the pressures of the world's financial crisis.
The maneuvers starting Dec. 1 "should be viewed largely as a propaganda exercise," said Anna Gilmour, an analyst at Jane's Intelligence Review.
"Pragmatic Russian policy suggests that it will content itself with a brief high-profile visit, rather than a longer-term deployment that could cause severe tensions with the U.S., at a time when Russia may be looking to re-engage with the new administration," she said.
U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack mocked the exercises, noting that Russia's navy is but a shadow of its Soviet-era fleet and reasserting U.S. dominance in the region. "Are they accompanied by tugboats this time?" he joked to reporters in Washington.
"I don't think there's any question about ... who the region looks to in terms of political, economic, diplomatic and as well as military power," McCormack said. "If the Venezuelans and the Russians want to have, you know, a military exercise, that's fine. But we'll obviously be watching it very closely."
Two of the Russian ships appeared on the horizon Tuesday morning off La Guaira, near Caracas, and one of them — the destroyer Admiral Chabanenko — docked at port while Venezuelan soldiers fired off cannons in a 21-gun salute. Russians sailors dressed in black-and-white uniforms lined up along the bow. The Peter the Great remained out of sight.
Next week, the warships will participate in "very simple, routine exercises," Gen. Jesus Gonzalez said, allowing sailors to practice reconnaissance, patrol, anti-terrorism and search and rescue operations.
Medvedev's tour this week to Peru, Brazil, Venezuela and Cuba was planned before the financial crisis, and Russia must now downsize its ambitions in Latin America because its pockets are no longer so deep, said Fyodor Lukyanov, the editor of Russia in Global Affairs Magazine.
"Russia will have to put off big projects like the construction of a gas pipeline across South America," Lukyanov said. The proposed natural gas pipeline is Chavez's brainchild, a controversial and ambitious plan for which he has explored Russian investment.
But Russia still has an economic interest in selling more weapons and boosting business in Latin America, and Venezuela can help "open the doors," noted Venezuelan political scientist Ricardo Sucre Heredia.
"It's a win-win relationship for the two countries," Sucre said. "Russia gains in terms of its international power and its presence, and Venezuela gains in terms of having an ally."
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Associated Press writers Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow and Desmond Butler in Washington contributed to this report. Ian James reported from Caracas.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081125/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_venezuela_russiaUS to watch Russian-Venezuelan maneuvers 'very closely' Nov 24 02:48 PM US/Eastern
The US State Department said Monday it will watch "very closely" upcoming Russian-Venezuelan naval maneuvers but dismissed any notion they were a challenge to US influence in the region.
In Moscow, the Russian navy said a group of Russian warships is due to arrive in Venezuela on Tuesday, ahead of joint exercises with the Venezuelan navy and a visit by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
"I don't think there's any question about who ... the region looks to in terms of political, economic, diplomatic and as well as military power," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters when asked for comment.
"If the Venezuelans and the Russians want to have, you know, a military exercise, that's fine, but we'll obviously be watching it very closely," he added.
"Contrast that with the recent meeting in Lima that just took place among APEC members, which they're talking about effective action to deal with global economic crisis," McCormack said.
"I think that's where people's attention is really focused," he said.
He was referring to the weekend summit in Peru of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, which focused on the global financial and economic crisis.
The summit was attended by Medvedev who is due to visit Venezuela and another US foe, Cuba, saying the time is right to revive "privileged relations" with Latin American countries that Moscow was close to in Soviet times.
Asked if the planned naval exercises -- combined with the Medvedev visit -- is provocative, McCormack replied: "I don't know if the intention was provocative. Certainly, we don't ... view it that way."
"We'll watch it closely. But I don't think a few Russian ships in ... the Caribbean with the Venezuelans is really going to raise anybody's eyebrows," McCormack said.
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said Russia was "free to exercise peacefully with anyone that they want to exercise with, but also people note through these exercises the company that nations keep.
Analysts see Medvedev as taking a defiant message to Washington's doorstep, as he meets Cuba's communist leadership and oversees Russian naval exercises off Venezuela's coast.
Cuba's communist regime received massive support from Moscow in Soviet times, becoming the focus of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, a legendary nuclear stand-off between Moscow and Washington.
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