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Venezuela says to buy 24 Russian fighter jets

Posted on: Wednesday, 14 June 2006, 22:43 CDT

By Patrick Markey

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Wednesday his government planned to buy 24 Russian-made Sukhoi fighter jets as part of increased military spending to beef up his armed forces.

Chavez, a Cuban ally caught in a tense confrontation with Washington, has already purchased Russian attack and transport helicopters and 100,000 Kalashnikov rifles to modernize the military of the world's No. 5 oil exporter.

"First of all we are going to buy 24 Sukhoi aircraft," Chavez said during an late-night event without giving more details about the purchase.

Washington, which brands the left-wing former soldier a destabilizing force in Latin America, last month banned sales of U.S. military hardware to Venezuela due to concerns over Chavez's close ties to Havana and Tehran.

Chavez had already announced his intention to seek Russian fighters to replace his government's U.S.-made F-16 fighters after accusing the United States of blocking sales of replacement parts for the jets.

Wearing his old army uniform and red paratroop beret, Chavez earlier on Wednesday handed new Russian-made rifles to troops and vowed that Washington would not defeat his self-styled socialist revolution for the poor.

Venezuela received a shipment of 30,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles in June, weeks after Washington banned U.S. arms sales over concerns about Chavez's ties to longtime U.S. foes Cuba and Iran and what it called his inaction against Marxist FARC guerrillas in neighboring Colombia.

Chavez, who says the United States wants to topple him, has ordered officers and civilian reservists to train for a resistance war against U.S. troops who he says plan to seize Venezuela's vast oil reserves.

Washington dismisses his invasion talk as nationalist bluster from a tyrant eroding democracy and using his oil wealth to muscle in on neighbors.

"The U.S. empire has a campaign around the world trying to isolate Venezuela so no one will sell us even a shotgun. This is an act of victory," Chavez told troops after inspecting and sighting a target with one of the new rifles.

Chavez, who as a young army officer led a coup attempt before winning power at the ballot box in 1998, received the first of the new weapons as a gift.

With Russian help, Venezuela plans to build a Kalashnikov rifle and ammunition factory near Caracas that will start producing the weapons in about three years.

Source: REUTERS

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