By RIA Novosti,
Mexico : Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will sign an array of political and financial agreements during his upcoming visit to Russia, national media reported on Wednesday.
Chavez is expected to visit Russia on September 26-27.
“During my upcoming visit to Russia we will launch a number of new political and financial projects,” he told Venezuelan state television by telephone from Beijing, where he is on a three-day state visit, part of a week-long world tour which also includes Portugal and France.
He said he planned to discuss with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, among other things, the possibility of creating a joint Russian-Venezuelan bank.
He added that the two leaders would meet, for the second time so far this year, not in Moscow but in southern Russia, near the border with Azerbaijan, where they would both observe a military exercise.
Chavez spoke in glowing terms about the upcoming joint Russian-Venezuelan naval exercise in the Caribbean.
“The Russian fleet has already left Severomorsk and is on its way to the Venezuelan coast, where a joint exercise will take place in November. It must not be regarded as a declaration of war – it is a declaration of peace,” he said.
A naval task force from the Northern Fleet, comprised of the nuclear-powered missile cruiser Pyotr Velikiy, the large ASW ship Admiral Chabanenko, and support ships, left the Severomorsk base on Monday to conduct training exercises in the Atlantic. (Image gallery)
He added that the Russian naval presence in the Venezuelan waters served the cause of peace, as had the recent flights along the South American coast from a Venezuelan airbase by Russian strategic bombers
The controversial flights, close to U.S. borders, have been criticized by the Bush administration, with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice accusing Russia of playing a “dangerous game.”