A Russian navy fleet arrived on Tuesday in Venezuela to make naval joint maneuvers with the Venezuelan army.
The Russian fleet includes the nuclear propulsion cruiser "Peter the Great" which has missiles; the anti submarines destructor "Admiral Chabanenko," tank vessel "Ivan Bubnov" and the tugboat "SB-406."
The Russian war ships arrived in La Guaira port, in the state of Vargas, 30 kilometers north to Caracas. The cruiser will be anchored at high seas. Besides the ships, Russia sent five military aircraft.
Russian and Venezuela fleets will make naval maneuvers from Wednesday, Nov. 26 till Dec. 3. Russian naval fleet will coincide with the first visit of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to Venezuela, which is foreseen for Wednesday.
Venezuelan authorities said that the arrival of the war ships and Medvedev will strength the bilateral cooperation ties.
Venezuela chief of army operations Luis Marquez told reporters that the maneuvers will include exercises in the port and high seas, at the Caribbean waters.
The aim of the maneuvers is to strength and integrate the ties between the fleets from Venezuela and Russia, Marquez added.
The maneuvers will include aerial war, tactics, anti drug trafficking, anti terrorism exercises and transfer of material and men at high seas, Marquez said.
The Venezuelan units to participate at the maneuvers are the navy infantry, the brigade of special operations and coastguard patrollers, combat patrollers and naval aviation.
(Xinhua News Agency November 26, 2008)
