Venezuelan vice president and defense minister to visit Russia

Venezuelan Vice-President Ramon Carrizales and Defense Minister Gustavo Rangel will arrive in Moscow on Wednesday on a three-day official visit. They will discuss the agenda for the October session of the interstate commission on energy cooperation. Carrizales is expected to meet with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov and the head of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Yevgeny Primakov. The visit comes several weeks after Colombian Vice-President Francisco Santos paid a visit to Moscow. Colombia and Venezuela were on the verge of an armed conflict in early March when U.S.-ally Colombia bombed a FARC rebel camp in Ecuador, killing 24 rebels. Venezuela and Ecuador then sent thousands of troops to the Colombian border, but a peace deal was soon reached.