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Chavez Says
Russian Planes Can Use Venezuelan Base
Caracas - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez
said on Sunday that Russian strategic planes
can use a base in Venezuelan territory.
"I told Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
that whenever Russian strategic planes need
to stop in Venezuela to fulfill its plans,
Venezuela is ready to help," Chavez said in
his Sunday TV-radio program "Alo,
Presidente."
Chavez said that in September 2008, Russian
Tu-160 bombers stopped in Venezuela for the
first time and made test flights and patrol
missions in the Caribbean.
"Some newspapers are saying that I offered a
base in La Orchilato the Russians. You know
it is not like that," Chavez said.
He added that Russian planes could make a
stop in Venezuela, but it did not mean that
he would give them La Orchila, a Venezuelan
island in the Caribbean.
Russian air force general Anatoly Zhikharev
said in his visit at the end of 2008 that
the runway in La Orchila just needed a
"short reconstruction" for the Tu-160
bombers to land and take off with freight.
On Saturday, Zhikharev said Russian bombers
also would be ready to use four of five
runways in Cuba, but that permanent bases in
the region have not been considered.
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