The plan to deploy a Russian naval squadron and aircraft to Venezuela in order to carry out joint military operations will allow the president Hugo Chávez capitalize on the growing tensions between Moscow and Washington.
They would be the largest Russian military exercises in the Caribbean, and perhaps in the Western Hemisphere since the Cold War.
Moscow announced on Monday it will send a squadron of planes and naval patrol antisubmarinos to Venezuela to conduct military exercises this year, a deployment that seemed retaliation to sending U.S. warships to Georgia after the short war in the former Soviet republic with Russia.
Chavez ridiculed any fears Americans in his program on Sunday to declare that the Russian squadron would be welcome: "Anden Yankees and cry."
"This is the classic Chavez. Almost never loses an opportunity to click and provoke Washington," said Michael Shifter, an analyst with the analysis group Inter-American Dialogue (Inter-American Dialogue), located in Washington.
"It takes advantage of growing tensions in the relationship between the U.S. and Russia, especially the situation in Georgia, Pico eye for Bush. There is nothing that will delight more," he said.
The growing military cooperation with Russia comes after severe criticism by the Venezuelan president to the reactivation of the Fourth U.S. Naval Fleet, based at Naval Station MayPort in the state of Florida, which he says represents a threat to his country and other Latin American nations.
Anna Gilmour, an analyst at the magazine Jane's Intelligence Review, believes that deployments are primarily for the benefit of Venezuela, which has moved increasingly to Russia and has bought billions of dollars in weapons manufactured in that country, from rifles of Kalashnikov assault until the Sukhoi fighters.
"The decision to conduct military exercises may well be a response to the reopening of the Fourth Fleet," said Gilmour. "But to allow Russian ships to arrive posts Venezuelans, Chavez is giving the message that America is not the only active power in the Caribbean."
However, the U.S. government was not worried in the slightest.
Sean McCormack, State Department spokesman, ridiculed the Russian navy, noting that if indeed intends to perform maneuvers in the Caribbean, "then found a few boats that can go as far."
The announcement occurs amid growing tensions between the U.S. and Russia.
Andrei Nesterenko, spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, insisted that the decision to send ships and planes to the naval exercises was taken before that Moscow would have its war with Georgia last month.
"This deployment had been planned in advance and is not related to the current political situation and developments in the Caucasus," said Nesterenko to the press.
But the announcement was made just a week after the Russian prime minister, Vladimir Putin, notices that Russia would launch a response to recent shipments of U.S. aid to Georgia.
"We do not understand what they are doing U.S. ships off the coast of Georgia, but this is a question of style, is a decision of our fellow Americans," Putin said. "The second question is why is delivering humanitarian aid in warships armed with more advanced missile systems".
Shifter said that it is clear that Russia is "upset by the growing U.S. presence in the Black Sea" and that "as part of its resurgent nationalism, Russia wants to demonstrate its strength and remind Washington that also has important alliances in the courtyard U.S. rear. "
Nesterenko said that the portamisiles Peter the Great and three other Russian ships will visit Venezuela later this year and they join a patrol antisubmarinos far-reaching. He added that the planes would "temporarily bases in one of the airbases of Venezuela".
The Russian navy spokesman, Igor Dygalo, said that the Russian squad would travel to Venezuela in November. He added that Russian and Venezuelan vessels Practica search and rescue missions.
In his crusade against U.S., Chavez has described the revival of the Fourth Fleet, dissolved at the end of World War II, as a concern of his government.
Other leaders, such as Brazilian Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, shared his view.
"I am concerned about the Fourth Fleet. Because the Fourth Fleet will be just exactly where we find oil," he said in comments to the Sunday edition of The Argentine daily Clarin. She added that she did not understand why Americans are required ships in the area.
