[NYTr] Belarus Plans Big Arms Sale to Venezuela

[nytr at olm.blythe-systems.com]

AP via International Herald Tribune - July 23, 2007
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/07/23/europe/EU-GEN-Belarus-Venezuela.php


Belarus plans to sell more than US$1 billion worth of arms to Venezuela

The Associated Press


MINSK, Belarus: Belarus plans to sign several deals to supply more than
US$1 billion (?720 million) worth of arms to Venezuela, a Belarusian
official said Monday.

Security Council chief Viktor Sheiman said the contracts had received
the blessing of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who visited the
ex-Soviet nation last month.

The deals would be signed later this month, Sheiman said, providing no
further details.

Belarusian defense plants build armored vehicles and other weapons, and
its military has big arsenals of Soviet-made jets and tanks.

Sheiman also said Belarus would receive lucrative contracts for oil
exploration in Venezuela.

Venezuela also has purchased some US$3 billion (?2.2 billion) worth of
arms from Russia, including 53 military helicopters, 100,000
Kalashnikov rifles, 24 SU-30 Sukhoi fighter jets and other weapons. The
United States has voiced concern about Venezuela's military spending.

On his recent trip to Belarus, Chavez called for a strategic
partnership with the ex-Soviet nation, saying his Belarusian
counterpart is a "brother-in-arms" and lamenting the pressure he said
the United States was putting on Minsk and Caracas. The United States
and other Western nations have dubbed Belarus "Europe's last
dictatorship" because of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko's
relentless crackdown on dissent and free media.