Chavez in Russian arms factory deal

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main...01/ixnews.html

Chavez in Russian arms factory deal
By Adrian Blomfield in Moscow
(Filed: 01/06/2006)

Weeks after a US ban on weapon sales to Venezuela, Russia has agreed to build arms factories for President Hugo Chavez's Leftist government - a move likely to further sour relations between the White House and the Kremlin.
Though sharp differences have emerged over a wide range of foreign policy issues, the United States is likely to be particularly incensed because it regards the South American nation as being in its sphere of influence.

Hugo Chavez wants to buy Russian fighter jets

President Chavez - famed for his colourful attacks on George W Bush - revelled in America's discomfort. "The Russians are going to install a Kalashnikov rifle plant and a munitions factory so we can defend every street, every hill, every corner," he said.
"The United States is failing in its attempts to blockade us, to disarm us."
Washington announced the ban earlier this month ostensibly because of concern over the president's ties with Iran and Cuba and his alleged inaction against guerrillas in neighbouring Colombia.
Mr Chavez, who visited Britain earlier this month, has whipped up public opinion with repeated declarations that the United States is planning to invade.
The Russian state's official arms exporter, Rosoboron-export confirmed that talks were taking place with the Venezuelan government, but would not give details about the factories' production capacity or when they would be built.
Last year Russia was criticised by the White House when it signed a contract to supply Venezuela with 100,000 Kalashnikovs. The first shipment is due to arrive later this month.
Mr Chavez, who has accused the United States of being behind an attempted coup four years ago, also wants to buy Russian fighter jets and helicopters as part of an ambitious military modernization programme funded by Venezuela's vast oil profits.
Close allies in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, Vladimir Putin and President Bush have fallen out over Russia's retreat from democratic principles and US support for the revolutions that toppled pro-Moscow regimes in Ukraine and Georgia.

[Ryan Ruck]

Chavez Says Russia To Help Venezuela Make Rifles

Russia will help Venezuela build plants to make Kalashnikov rifles and ammunition after the United States restricted arms sales to the South American nation, President Hugo Chavez said on Tuesday.

Chavez also told a press conference in Quito, Ecuador, that a delivery of 30,000 Kalashnikov automatic rifles was due to arrive from Russia in early June.

"The Russians are going to install a Kalashnikov rifle plant and a munitions factory. So we can defend every street, every hill, every corner," he said in remarks broadcast in Venezuela.

Washington banned all weapons sales to Chavez's leftist government this month because of U.S. concern about his ties with Cuba and Iran and what it called his inaction against guerrillas in neighboring Colombia.

The sanctions led to a diplomatic freeze with Venezuela, a major U.S. energy supplier and the world's No. 5 oil exporter.

Chavez rattled the White House earlier with a deal to buy 100,000 Russian automatic weapons.

Earlier this year, the United States expressed concern about Spain's plans to sell $1.56 billion in military ships and planes to Venezuela.

Chavez charges the United States with orchestrating a 2002 coup that briefly toppled his government and frequently accuses the United States of planning to invade Venezuela.

"The invasion plan is prepared, we even have part of this plan. They change it of course," Chavez said, although he added he was working to avoid such an attack.

Washington denies it plans to invade Venezuela and says Chavez is destabilizing the region.

Russia is the world's No. 2 oil exporter. Russia's Gazprom is exploring for natural gas in Venezuela, and Russian oil major LUKOIL says it wants to invest up to $1 billion in developing Venezuelan deposits.

[Ryan Ruck]

Russia to Build Venezuelan Rifle Plants in October

Russia will start building two plants in October to make Kalashnikov assault rifles in Venezuela, the first country to win a production license for the guns since the fall of the Soviet Union.

Production of the AK-103 in Venezuela is scheduled to begin ``by the end of 2009 or the start of 2010,'' said Vladimir Grodetsky, head of state-run arms maker Izhmash. One plant will produce AK-103 assault rifles and the other will produce .762 millimeter bullets, Grodetsky said in an interview today in Izhevsk, the central Russian city where Izhmash is based.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez discussed the factories with President Vladimir Putin in June during his fifth trip to Russia. Chavez is continuing an arms buildup that has cost more than $4.3 billion since 2005. Russia is the South American nation's main weapons supplier. Chavez has said he needs the arms to defend against what he calls a threat of U.S. invasion.

Izhmash will provide technology, training and licensing to Venezuela to produce the rifles, and a team of Venezuelan specialists have already visited the plant, Grodetsky said. ``The experts who came here were well qualified,'' he added.

Small-Arms Exports

Izhmash, which is 67 percent state-owned, accounts for 90 percent of Russian small-arms exports. About a million Kalashnikov rifles are produced each year, mostly outside Russia. Izhmash spokesman Alexander Baditsa said this deal is the first since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union under which production of the guns abroad will be ``fully legitimate.''

Venezuela has spent more than $3 billion on Russian weapons since 2005, signing contracts to buy 100,000 Kalashnikov rifles, 50 military helicopters and 24 Su-30 jet fighters. The country is also seeking to buy eight Russian diesel-powered submarines, and Chavez visited Russia's neighbor Belarus in June for talks with President Alexander Lukashenko on buying a short-range air defense system.

This year marks simultaneously the 60th anniversary of the original Kalashnikov rifle, the AK-47, and the 200th anniversary of weapons production at the Izhmash plant. Mikhail Kalashnikov, the inventor of the rifle which bears his name and is renowned for its simplicity, will be 88 in November.

To mark the anniversaries, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Alexy II, yesterday consecrated a new cathedral in Izhevsk, across the road from the Kalashnikov museum. Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin is due in Izhevsk tomorrow as part of the celebrations.

Izhmash produced more small arms during World War II than the entire German Reich, according to the Kalashnikov museum.

[Ryan Ruck]

Russia Selling New Sniper Rifles To Venezuela

A proposed contract between Russia and Venezuela that could transfer thousands of sniper rifles to Venezuela has raised concern in the United States about the potential use or regional distribution of the weapons by the socialist-inspired government of President Hugo Chávez.

The rifle in question is the latest variant of the Dragunov, a long-barreled, semi-automatic design with an optical sight. It is derived in part from the much more widely circulated Kalashnikov assault rifle.

First manufactured in 1963 for use by militaries and intelligence agencies in the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact, the Dragunov and its clones have become one of the most lethal and effective weapons against American troops and their allies in Iraq.

Venezuela is negotiating a contract with Rosoboronexport, the Kremlin-controlled arms export agency, to purchase about 5,000 modernized Dragunov rifles, according to officials at Izhmash, the rifle's manufacturer.

Venezuela has about 34,000 soldiers in its army and 23,000 in its national guard, according to estimates by Jane's Information Group, which analyzes military forces and regional risks.

Because sniper rifles are specialized infantry weapons and not typically issued to large numbers of soldiers, diplomats and military officers and analysts said, a purchase of several thousand Dragunovs would not seem to have a conventional military use for Venezuela's armed forces.

"Sales like this, and other sales of military equipment and arms to Venezuela, don't seem consistent with Venezuela's needs," David Kramer, deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, said by telephone.

"It does raise questions about their ultimate use," he added. "We're not sure what their purpose would be."

Mark Joyce, the Americas editor for Jane's Country Risk, part of Jane's Information Group, said that a purchase of thousands of sniper rifles would fit with the ongoing defense reorganization in Venezuela under Chávez.

The changes emphasize large civilian reserve forces, which bypass the traditional military chain of command and report directly to Chávez, and which could form the core of a domestic guerrilla force if Venezuela were invaded.

"Obviously, what he has in mind is some sort of urban, guerrilla war against an invading force, and the model for that is Iraq," Joyce said.

Venezuela had previously purchased 100,000 AK-103s, a modern Kalashnikov rifle that shares much of the underlying design of the original AK-47. With Russian technical assistance, the country is also planning to build a new plant to produce its own Kalashnikov line, and a second plant to make ammunition for Kalashnikovs.

These contracts do not defy any sanctions, and are legal. But they also drew criticism in Washington, which has expressed worry that Chávez's government was buying more weapons than it needed, and could distribute weapons to South American guerrillas or terrorists.

Joyce noted that Venezuela has long been accused of providing weapons to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, a large and heavily equipped Marxist group that the State Department classifies as a foreign terrorist organization.

Washington's concerns about Chávez led to a suspension of U.S. arms sales to Venezuela in 2006. Chávez has scoffed at the suspension and has bought equipment from Russia, including military jets, helicopters, rifles and, potentially, submarines.

The Venezuelan Embassy in Moscow declined several requests since last week for an interview about the latest proposed contract, details of which were discussed last week by officials at Izhmash.

Vladimir Farafoshin, a deputy director at Izhmash, said that the full order of 100,000 AK-103s had been delivered to Venezuela, and that Russia was negotiating the sale of "about 5,000" Dragunovs as part of a separate arms deal.

Vladimir Grodetsky, the general director at Izhmash, expressed satisfaction with the contracts, saying that Venezuela was a reliable partner that made its scheduled payments regularly and on time. "We are very much satisfied with this cooperation," he said.

The contracts with Venezuela are the largest foreign sales by Izhmash that have been made public.