Amid rising tensions with Colombia, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced late on Friday that his country would soon take delivery of Russian-made missiles with a range of 300km.
“We have signed some agreements with Russia. Soon we will begin receiving some missiles,” Chavez said during a meeting with supporters in front of the presidential palace. He underscored the reliability of the Russian weaponry, but emphasized that his country had “no plans to attack anybody.”
But the announcement came amid rising tension between Caracas and Bogota over Colombia’s decision to allow the US access to several military bases on its territory.
Chavez said he was determined to defend his country “of any threat” and assured that the new missiles were purely “defensive.”
He did not specify how many missiles would be delivered or whether the contract to buy them was signed during his recent visit to Russia. But Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday that Russia would sell weapons to its “friend” Venezuela.
“These sorts of contracts are never signed in public,” he told reporters after meeting Chavez at a Russian presidential residence outside Moscow. “We will supply Venezuela the weapons that Venezuela asks for. In accordance with all international law, of course,” Medvedev said.
Responding to reports that Russia would sell tanks to the Latin American country, Medvedev said: “Why not tanks? Without question, we have good tanks. If our friends want our tanks, we will deliver them.”
Chavez, a firebrand leftist who has repeatedly criticized the US, said Venezuela was building up its military with Moscow’s help, but insisted that this was not directed against any other country.
Following the Medvedev-Chavez talks, the Russian and Venezuelan defense ministries signed an agreement, details of which were not released.
Separately, a consortium of Russian oil companies and Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA signed an agreement establishing a joint venture to develop the Junin 6 oil field along Venezuela’s Orinoco River.
Russian media reports ahead of Chavez’s visit said Venezuela was seeking to buy T-72 and T-90 tanks, Kilo-class diesel-powered submarines, BMP-3 armored vehicles, Mi-28 helicopters and land-based anti-ship missiles.
In recent years Venezuela has signed over US$4 billion in arms contracts with Russia and last November its navy held joint exercises with Russian warships in the Caribbean, traditionally seen as a US domain.
Recent Russian arms sales to Venezuela also included 24 Sukhoi-30 fighter jets, 50 combat helicopters and 100,000 Kalshnikov assault rifles. Moscow has also granted Venezuela a one-billion dollar credit to finance the acquisition of its weapons.
In addition to Russia, Chavez visited Iran, Libya, Syria, Algeria, Turkmenistan, Belarus and Spain. He returned home on Friday.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
‘A THREAT’: Guyanese President Irfan Ali called on Venezuela to follow international court rulings over the region, whose border Guyana says was ratified back in 1899 Misael Zapara said he would vote in Venezuela’s first elections yesterday for the territory of Essequibo, despite living more than 100km away from the oil-rich Guyana-administered region. Both countries lay claim to Essequibo, which makes up two-thirds of Guyana’s territory and is home to 125,000 of its 800,000 citizens. Guyana has administered the region for decades. The centuries-old dispute has intensified since ExxonMobil discovered massive offshore oil deposits a decade ago, giving Guyana the largest crude oil reserves per capita in the world. Venezuela would elect a governor, eight National Assembly deputies and regional councilors in a newly created constituency for the 160,000
North Korea has detained another official over last week’s failed launch of a warship, which damaged the naval destroyer, state media reported yesterday. Pyongyang announced “a serious accident” at Wednesday last week’s launch ceremony, which crushed sections of the bottom of the new destroyer. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the mishap a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness.” Ri Hyong-son, vice department director of the Munitions Industry Department of the Party Central Committee, was summoned and detained on Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. He was “greatly responsible for the occurrence of the serious accident,” it said. Ri is the fourth person
At a calligraphy class in Hanoi, Hoang Thi Thanh Huyen slides her brush across the page to form the letters and tonal marks of Vietnam’s unique modern script, in part a legacy of French colonial rule. The history of romanized Vietnamese, or Quoc Ngu, links the arrival of the first Christian missionaries, colonization by the French and the rise to power of the Communist Party of Vietnam. It is now reflected in the country’s “bamboo diplomacy” approach of seeking strength through flexibility, or looking to stay on good terms with the world’s major powers. A month after Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) visited,
RSS