Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez gestures during a press conference held at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, China, Thursday, Sept. 25, 2008.
Photo: AP
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Russia to Lend Venezuela $1bn for Military Cooperation
Russia will grant a $1-billion loan to Venezuela to implement the program of bilateral military cooperation, a top-ranked source with the Kremlin told ITAR-TASS before the Orenburg meeting of Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev and Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez.
The progress in implementation of military and technical cooperation of Russia and Venezuela is positive, the source said. “It was decided to grant the loan of $1 billion to Venezuela for the purposes of military and technical program.”
Russia and Venezuela signed 12 contracts for supplies of Russia’s weapons worth over $4.4 billion from 2005 through 2007, the official pointed out.
“The matter at stake is the supplies of multipurpose fighters Su-30 MKV, transport helicopters Mi-17, Kalashnikov submachine guns (AK-103 and AK-104); the contract has been inked for their production and production of cartridges,” said Rostekhnologii CEO Sergei Chemezov, who visited Venezuela past week as the member of delegation headed by Vice Premier Igor Sechin.
“The talks are underway for supplying to Venezuela missile defense systems, modern armored vehicles, including BMP-3,” Chemezov said, specifying Venezuela’s interest in Su-35 jets, which bulk production will be launched in 2010.
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