Caracas, April 06: Russia may sell $5bn worth of weapons to Venezuela, prime minister Vladimir Putin announced after a visit to the South American country.
Mr Putin met Venezuela president Hugo Chavez – a leading critic of the United States – over the weekend to discuss oil, defence and nuclear co-operation.
Mr Chavez has said he needs to develop his military might to counter US forces in neighbouring Colombia, Washington’s closest ally in the region.
The Russian premier was quoted as saying: “Our delegation has just returned from Venezuela and the overall volume of orders could exceed $5bn (about £3.2m).”
He said this included $2.2bn (£1.4bn) in credit lines for Russian arms received by Mr Chavez during his eighth visit to Moscow in September, including T-72 tanks and the S-300 advanced anti-aircraft missile system, the RIA news agency reported.
Venezuela has bought more than $4bn (£2.6bn) worth of weapons from Russia in recent years, from Sukhoi jet fighters to Kalashnikov assault rifles.
During his Moscow visit in September, Mr Chavez recognised the independence of two pro-Russian rebel territories in Georgia, over which Russia fought a brief but bloody war in August 2008.
President Dmitry Medvedev said then that Russia would supply Venezuela with all the arms it asked for.
Mr Chavez wants to reinforce the Venezuelan military with Russian missiles, tanks and diesel submarines.
He says he wants to resist what he calls US imperialism in Latin America.
While in Caracas, Mr Putin said that Russia appreciates its good relations with the United States, but that if the United States does not want to sell arms to Venezuela, Russia is willing to.
—Agencies