Russian bombers land in Venezuela - Russian navy to visit Venezuela

Photo: The Tu-160s will stay for several days (BBC)

BBC report September 11, 2008 BBC:

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez says two Russian bombers have arrived in the country to carry out training flights.

The Russian Air Force said the bombers would be based in Venezuela for several days and fly over neutral waters.

Earlier this week Russia confirmed that it would send a Navy squadron and long- range patrol planes for joint exercises with Venezuela in November.

Mr Chavez has developed close relations with Moscow, including the purchase of Russian arms and co-operation on oil.

Hugo Chavez announced that two Tu-160 bombers would carry out manoeuvres, saying that it was part of a move towards a "multi-polar world".

"I'm going to fly one of those beasts," he joked.

"The Yankee hegemony is finished," he added.

A Russian defence ministry spokesman confirmed that the planes had flown to Venezuela, adding that they were escorted by Nato fighters as they flew across the Atlantic.

The planes are capable of carrying nuclear missiles, but the spokesman did not give any information about whether they were carrying arms during this mission.

President Chavez has backed Russia's military operations in Georgia, and said that he is interested in buying Russian submarines.

Source:news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7609577.stm 
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Russian navy to visit Venezuela



Photo: Peter the Great is one of Russia's most prestigious warships (AP/BBC)

BBC report Monday, 8 September 2008:

The Russian navy has announced that some of its ships will visit Venezuela in November and may hold joint exercises in its territorial waters.

A senior Venezuelan naval official said earlier there were plans to hold exercises involving four Russian warships and 1,000 Russian troops.

Confirming a visit would be made, Russia said its ships would include the heavy cruiser Peter the Great.

Anti-submarine planes would also be sent to Venezuela temporarily, it said.

Correspondents say the move is likely to raise concern in the US, whose relations with Russia have been soured by Moscow's recent conflict in Georgia.

Washington already has rocky relations with Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez.

Mr Chavez welcomed news of the Russian naval visit in his weekly broadcast. Referring to possible US concerns, he was quoted by the Associated Press as saying: "Go ahead and squeal, Yankees."

In July, he called for a strategic alliance with Russia to protect Venezuela from the US.

Caracas and Moscow agreed to extend bilateral co-operation on energy, with three Russian energy companies to be allowed to operate in Venezuela.

'Great importance'

Confirming plans for the visit in November, Russian foreign ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said it was not aimed against any third country.

Nor, he added, had it any connection to events in Georgia.

As well as the nuclear-powered Peter the Great, the Russian ships will include the anti-submarine ship Admiral Chabanenko.

On Saturday, Venezuelan Rear Admiral Salbatore Cammarata Bastidas said Venezuelan aircraft and submarines would be involved in exercises with the Russians.

"This is of great importance because it is the first time it is being done [in the Americas]," he said in a statement quoted by the AFP news agency and local media.

President Chavez supported Russia's intervention in Georgia last month and has accused Washington of being scared of Moscow's "new world potential".

In his weekly broadcast, Mr Chavez said: "Russia's naval fleet is welcome here. If it's possible, we'll stage an exercise in our Caribbean waters."

Source: news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7602530.stm
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Russians to bring war games to Caribbean

Monday September 08, 2008
Los Angeles Times Service

BOGOTA -- The Venezuelan government confirmed Sunday that four Russian naval vessels will participate in joint exercises in the Caribbean this year, a move that could heighten already strained relations between Russia and the United States.

Venezuela's naval intelligence chief, Adm. Salbatore Cammarata Bastidas, said in a statement that a task force including four Russian naval vessels and 1,000 Russian military personnel would take part in mid-November exercises with Venezuelan frigates, patrol boats, submarines and aircraft.

The announcement came shortly after Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin warned that NATO's deployment of several warships to the Black Sea in the aftermath of Russia's invasion of Georgia last month would not go unanswered.

It was not immediately clear whether there was a connection between the two events.

The Russian agreement to send ships also could be seen as part of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's campaign to build up his military, an effort that includes arms deals, a proposed hemispheric South American Defense Council and a recent decree that gives his armed forces a greater role in carrying out his social agenda.

Chávez, a strident critic of the United States, has said the actions are to ward off what he has described as U.S. imperialist designs on Venezuela and other Latin American countries. He has long suspected that the United States supported a failed 2002 coup against him.

Chávez particularly is unhappy with the re-formation of the U.S. Fourth Fleet, based in Mayport, Fla., which has just begun patrolling the Caribbean after having been disbanded in 1953.

Source: www.miamiherald.com/news/5min/story/676508.html
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Vladimir Putin warns UK US over relations

Russia's relations with Britain will remain in deep freeze for as long as UK harbours regime opponents Vladimir Putin said.

Source: Telegraph September 11, 2008 17:58 diplomatic
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Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov warns Poland over US antimissile shield

Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has told his Polish counterpart that Moscow regards a US antimissile shield which Poland has agreed to host as a direct threat to Russian forces.

Source: Telegraph September 11, 2008 17:37 antimissle shield
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Russia will target American missile defense sites in Europe

From Alert 5 Military Aviation News, Wednesday, 10 September 2008:

A senior Russian general said Wednesday that Moscow could target the missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic with ballistic missiles.

"I cannot exclude that if such decisions are taken by our top military-political leadership, the missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic and other such objects could be chosen as designated targets for some of our inter-continental ballistic missiles" Gen Nikolai Solovtsov said.

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Russia warning over missile sites

Russia sees the US missile defence in central Europe as a threat - September 10, 2008 BBC report:

A senior Russian general has warned that Moscow could target Poland if it goes ahead with plans to host parts of a US missile defence shield.

The commander of strategic missile forces, Gen Nikolai Solovtsov, said Russia could direct nuclear missiles against strategic targets in Poland.

Poland has signed a deal with the US to build and host 10 missile interceptors.

Russian officials have repeatedly voiced anger at the move, which they see as an effort to surround Russia.

"I cannot exclude that if such decisions are taken by our top military-political leadership, the missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic and other such objects could be chosen as designated targets for some of our inter-continental ballistic missiles,"; Gen Solovtsov said.

'Dangerous game'

He said that the country was obliged to do all it could do to "prevent, under any circumstances, the devaluing of Russia's nuclear deterrent".

The US says plans to locate the interceptor missiles in a former military base near Poland's Baltic Sea coast will protect both it and much of Europe against long-range missile attacks from what it calls "rogue elements" such as Iran.

But Russia sees the Polish missile defence sites as a direct threat, and part of an effort to encircle the country.

The general's warning comes ahead of a planned visit to Poland by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

In comments published on Wednesday in the Polska newspaper, Mr Lavrov said in deciding to host the US missile defence system, Poland had become "an element of a very dangerous game" destabilising the military balance between Russia and the US.

Analysts said the deal was finally agreed after months of protracted negotiations following Russia's military intervention in neighbouring Georgia, which alarmed many former Soviet bloc countries.

As part of the deal, the US agreed to station a battery of Patriot missiles and US servicemen on Polish soil to bolster the country's short and medium-range air defences.

Source: news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7608106.stm
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Pakistan to defend itself against US incursions

Pakistan has vowed to defend against American military incursions after Washington announced plans to extend operations to Pakistani soil.

Source: Telegraph September 11, 2008 17:43 alqaeda
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Iran renews nuclear weapons development

Fresh evidence has emerged that suggests Iran has renewed work on developing nuclear weapons say security sources.

Telegraph September 11, 2008 20:24 security forces
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North Korea builds secret launch site for ballistic missiles

North Korea has secretly built a launch site for ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear warheads according to new satellite imagery.

Telegraph September 11, 2008 20:13 launch site