Russia and Venezuela are strategic partners and stand for the building of a new world order, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev announced during a two-day visit to Moscow by Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez. Presidents Medvedev and Chávez signed numerous agreements in the energy and defence spheres demonstrating just how close relations between Moscow and Caracas have become.
The most crucial was the decision by Russia to construct a nuclear power plant in Venezuela. President Medvedev said: “We consider this project rather interesting and positive.”
Following talks between Mr Chávez and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, considered to be the real power-broker in the Kremlin, Mr Putin also announced that Russia will “soon deliver” a further consignment of 35 tanks to Venezuela. Over the last five years, Caracas has purchased $4 billion worth of tanks, aircraft and rifles from Russia.
In a striking similarity to the role the Soviet Union played in developing the sugar sector in Cuba, Mr Medvedev said Russia is interested in spending “hundreds of millions of dollars” in “cultivating” Venezuela’s banana industry.
After the conclusion of talks, Mr Medvedev said: “Russia and Venezuela have a strategic partnership – we are close friends.” He noted that Moscow and Caracas stand for “forming a modern and fair world.”
Mr Chávez, who during the visit referred to the collapse of the Soviet Union as a “catastrophe”, hailed Russia’s international role as “great” in the “contribution to the balance of a world, which will really be free”.
