Venezuela, Russia strengthened ties

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s visit to Venezuela has thus far boosted ties between both countries.

After returning from his trip to Caracas Putin said that he was considering selling $5 billion worth in arms to Venezuela. According to the Russian press orders will be placed at thirteen of the country’s leading defense firms and that previous weapons deals with Venezuela “have spurred positive effects.”

Though no new arms deals were signed during Putin’s stop in Venezuela, Reuters noted that “Venezuela has bought more than $4 billion worth of weapons from Russia, from Sukhoi jet fighters to Kalashnikov assault rifles.” Indeed, Putin personally delivered four military helicopters to Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez on Friday.

In addition, Putin and Chavez signed a number of energy and trade pacts last week including expanding oil exploration right to the oil-rich Orinoco belt. Chavez noted that the increased cooperation with Russia doesn’t signify the creation of “an alliance against the United States". That didn’t stop a State Department spokesman from teasing about a rumored Venezuela-Russia space program:

"We would note that the government of Venezuela was largely closed this week due to energy shortages and to the extent that Venezuela is going to extend resources on behalf of its people, perhaps the focus should be more terrestrial than extraterrestrial."

Image- AFP
Online Sources- Xinhua, Washington Post, BBC News, UPI, AFP, Al Jazeera English