Russia to send naval squadron, planes to Venezuela

Russia said Monday it will send a naval squadron and anti-submarine patrol planes to Venezuela this year for a joint military exercise in the Caribbean, a deployment that comes amid increasingly tense relations with the United States. "If this exercise takes place, it won‘t be directed against interests of any third party," Nesterenko said at a briefing. Nesterenko said the Peter the Great missile cruiser and three other Russian navy ships would visit Venezuela before the year‘s end, and would be joined by a unit of long-range anti-submarine patrol aircraft. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez had announced the maneuvers in his Sunday television and radio program, saying the Russian vessels would call on Venezuelan ports in late November or December. Diplomatic relations between Caracas and Washington have been tense for years. U.S. officials have warned that Chavez poses a threat to democracy, while Chavez has emerged as Latin America‘s most outspoken critic of U.S. foreign policy. Nesterenko said the joint exercise would not be directed against any third country. Russian officials said past U.S. military assistance for Georgia had encouraged the Caucasus country to launch its offensive in South Ossetia, and argued that the new shipments could be a cover for weapons deliveries. Putin last week warned that Russia would respond to the U.S. aid shipments to Georgia, but he did not say how. Russia‘s reaction to the U.S. deployment to the Black Sea "will be calm, without any sort of hysteria. But of course, there will be an answer," Putin said.