WASHINGTON, July 10. /TASS/. The United States estimates Russia’s arms sales to Venezuela in the past decade at $9 billion, the commander of US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), Navy Adm. Craig Faller, has said.
"Latin America and the Caribbean is a major market for Russian arms sales, and Moscow continues to make inroads into traditionally US-dominated [military and law enforcement] training activities. Since 2009, Russia has sold nearly $9 billion in military equipment to Venezuela, including combat aircraft, tanks and Surface-to-Air-Missile systems (SAMS)," Faller told a subcommittee of the US Senate Committee on Arms Services.
Faller said that in March, Russia inaugurated a helicopter training center in Venezuela, created with the participation of Russian specialists. In his words, the arms contracts and training activities in Central and Latin America "potentially provide Moscow with a regional platform to recruit intelligence sources and collect information."
He went on to say that Russia’s deployment of two nuclear capable bombers to the Western Hemisphere last year, and the most recent deployment of its most advanced warship, the Admiral Gorshkov frigate, were "intended as shows of force to the United States."
According to the US official, hundreds of Russian servicemen and military contractors were working in Venezuela.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in late March that third countries should not worry about Russia-Venezuela relations and respect the rights of countries to cooperate. "We don’t think that third parties should worry about our bilateral relations with other countries. We don’t interfere in Venezuela’s domestic affairs and expect third countries to do the same, letting the Venezuelan people decide their future themselves," he said.
He pointed out that "Russia maintains rather large-scale and mutually beneficial cooperation with Venezuela." Peskov also noted that "there are some obligations under previous contracts that Russia has to fulfill, which concern the supply of special equipment.".