From DefenseNews

 

Venezuela's Chavez Offers Russia Use of Airbase

By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Published: 15 Mar 16:25 EDT (20:25 GMT)

 

CARACAS - Venezuela has offered Russia unlimited use of an air base off its Caribbean coast for Moscow's strategic bombers, President Hugo Chavez said in a television address March 15.

 

"I told [Russian] President [Dmitry] Medvedev that any time Russia's strategic aircraft need to land in Venezuela to meet their strategic aims, Venezuela will be at their service," Chavez said.

 

Chavez's comments - made during his weekly television program "Hello Mr. President" - follow Russian media reports one day prior that Moscow had been offered the use of the Caribbean island base La Orchila.

 

Russian air force general Anatoly Zhikharev told the Interfax-AVN military news agency March 14 that Russia could seek the short-term use of bases in Cuba and Venezuela, indicating permanent bases in the region were not under consideration.

 

The bases could be used for logistics stops on long-distance bomber patrols, which Russia resumed in August 2007 after a 15-year hiatus.

 

Russian warships held joint maneuvers in November in Venezuela with the Venezuelan navy - activity not seen in the area since the Cold War - in defiance of the United States, the region's military powerhouse.

From DefenseNews

 

Russia Considers Temporary Air Bases in Americas

By CHRISTOPHER BOIAN, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Published: 14 Mar 08:26 EDT (12:26 GMT)

 

MOSCOW - Russia could use bases for its strategic bombers on the doorstep of the United States in Cuba and Venezuela to underpin long-distance patrols in the region, a senior air force officer said March 14.

 

"This is possible in Cuba," Gen. Anatoly Zhikharev, chief of the Russian air force's strategic aviation staff, told the Interfax-AVN military news agency.

 

The comments were the latest signal that Moscow intends to project its military capability in far-flung corners of the globe despite a tight defense budget and hardware that experts consider in many respects outdated.

 

Zhikharev indicated that Russia was looking only at occasional use of the facilities - not setting up permanent bases in the region.

 

He noted that the Venezuelan constitution prohibited establishment of military bases of foreign states on Venezuelan territory and described the Russian possible use of the facility there as "we land, we complete the flight, we take off."

 

Zhikharev said Cuba had a several air bases equipped with the long runways needed by the heavy bombers and said the facilities there were "entirely acceptable" for use by the Russian aircraft during long-distance patrols.

 

"If the will of the two states is there, the political will, then we are prepared to fly there" to the bases in Cuba, the agency quoted Zhikharev as saying.

 

The general also said that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez had offered to let Russian strategic bombers use a military airfield on La Orchila island, a military base off the west coast of the country.

 

"Yes, there has been such a proposal from the Venezuelan president," Zhikharev said.

 

"If a relevant political decision is made, this is possible," he added.

 

Russia resumed patrols by its long-distance strategic bombers in August 2007 after a 15-year hiatus, noting at the time that it was mirroring the United States, which never suspended its global bomber patrols after the Cold War.

 

Last year, Russia temporarily based a pair of Tu-160 bombers at an airbase in Venezuela in a carefully-choreographed display of force regarded by as a warning message to the United States.

 

A Russian flotilla led by the nuclear-powered cruiser Peter the Great also joined Venezuelan navy vessels for maneuvers in the Caribbean late last year, timed to coincide with a visit to the region by President Dmitry Medvedev.

 

The previous U.S. administration of George W. Bush officially shrugged off the Russian aviation and naval moves in Latin America, characterizing them as more for show than anything representing a military worry for the United States.

 

In July, however, a top U.S. air force officer warned that Russia would cross "a red line" if it were to base nuclear capable bombers in Cuba.

 

"If they did, I think we should stand strong and indicate that is something that crosses a threshold, crosses a red line for the United States of America," Gen. Norton Schwartz said on July 23.

 

The Interfax report said there were three types of Russian aircraft capable of long-distance bomber patrols: the Tu-95MS, the Tu-160 and the Tu-22.

 

It was Tu-160 strategic bombers that were sent to Venezuela for temporary basing last year. Each aircraft of this type is capable of carrying 12 cruise missiles that can be fitted with nuclear warheads.