Chavez Goes Submarine Shopping in Russia

Via Al Jazeera -

The Venezuelan president is visiting Russia, apparently shopping for hardware to boost its military against the US.

Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, welcomed Hugo Chavez for talks at the Russian presidential retreat outside Moscow on Thursday, saying economic affairs and military-technical co-operation were on the agenda.

Last July, Chavez spent billions of dollars on Russian helicopters, arms and fighter jets. This time he is thought to be shopping for submarines.

"So I came to Moscow to talk to Vladimir and after four months we had Sukhoi planes flying over Caracas. And now we have our first fleet of aircraft.

"This is what we call solidarity; this is what we call independence."

Russian newspaper Kommersant reported this month that Chavez was expected to sign an initial contract that would include five Project 636 Kilo-class diesel submarines, and possibly four other submarines later, although the Venezuelan defence minister denied it.

Caracas already has purchased about $3 bn worth of arms from Russia, including 53 military helicopters, 100,000 Kalashnikov rifles, 24 SU-30 Sukhoi fighter jets and other weapons.