Chavez & Russians prepare to defend Venezuela

[TonyGosling]

Russia, Belarus begin military exercise
Mon, 22 Sep 2008 23:51:25 GMT


A Russian Tu-160 Blackjack bomber

Russia and Belarus begin a joint exercise as a fleet of Russian warships is heading to the Venezuelan waters for a naval war games in November.

Practice missile launches using strategic bombers will be conducted from 6 to 12 October as part of large scale Moscow-Minsk maneuvers which began on Monday.

Meanwhile, an undisclosed number of Russian warships, including a nuclear-powered cruiser and an anti-submarine vessel, are heading for Venezuela to engage military exercises there.

The joint drills with Belarus aim at practicing the strategic development of armed forces and will take place in various regions of the two participating countries.

Moscow has repeatedly stressed the need to continue the development of its Strategic Nuclear Forces, including its airborne component, so that they are able to respond promptly and effectively to any aggression.

The month-long Stability-2008 exercise forms part of more than 200 scheduled maneuvers including 350 live firing drills in the second half of 2008 intended to "train the deployment of the Russian Armed Forces, combat missions of troops to localize and fight armed conflicts, terrorist activities, natural disasters and man-made catastrophes in order to provide strategic deterrence and security for the Russia-Belarus Union State,” Itar-Tass said, citing Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov.

According to RIA Novosti the Russian Air Force currently has at least 141 Tu-22M3 Backfire-C, 40 Tu-95 Bear-H and 16 modernized Tu-160 Blackjack strategic bombers in service which can deploy both long-range cruise missiles and short-range nuclear missiles.

The Kremlin has been actively trying to strengthen contacts with Latin American nations recently, including Venezuela and Cuba because of tense relations with the US following the Russia-Georgia conflict last month.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=70257&sectionid=351020602

[TonyGosling]

Russian Deployment to Western Hemisphere unprecedented since Cold War
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10308

Global Research, September 22, 2008
The Moscow Times - 2008-09-23

A Navy squadron set off for Venezuela on Monday, an official said, in a deployment of Russian military power to the Western Hemisphere unprecedented since the Cold War.

Navy spokesman Igor Dygalo said the nuclear-powered Peter the Great cruiser accompanied by three other ships sailed from the Northern Fleet's base of Severomorsk on Monday. The ships will cover about 15,000 nautical miles to conduct joint maneuvers with the Venezuelan navy, he said.

Dygalo refused to comment on Monday's report in Izvestia claiming that the ships were to make a stopover in the Syrian port of Tartus on their way to Venezuela. Russian officials said the Soviet-era base there was being renovated to serve as a foothold for a permanent Navy presence in the Mediterranean.

The deployment follows a weeklong visit to Venezuela by a pair of Russian strategic bombers and comes as Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez plans to visit Moscow this week. It will be Chavez's second trip to Russia in about two months.

The intensifying contacts with Venezuela appear to be a response to the U.S. dispatch of warships to deliver aid to Georgia that angered the Kremlin.

Chavez said in an interview with Russian television broadcast Sunday that Latin America needs a strong friendship with Russia to help reduce U.S. influence and keep peace in the region. In separate comments on his Sunday TV and radio program, he joked that he will be making his international tour to Russia and other countries this week aboard the "super-bombers that Medvedev loaned me," a reference to President Dmitry Medvedev. "Gentlemen of the CIA, to be clear, I'm joking," Chavez said with a laugh.

He has repeatedly warned that the U.S. Navy poses a threat to Venezuela.

[TonyGosling]

Former defense minister detained in Venezuela
By: RACHEL JONES on: 05.10.2008

Was this geezer a CIA/MI6/Mossad agent?

Oct 4, 12:32 AM (ET)
By RACHEL JONES


http://wfaustasblog.blogspot.com/2007/12/veneuzela-who-is-raul-baduel. html

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - A former Venezuelan defense minister who has become a prominent critic of President Hugo Chavez was detained by military prosecutors on suspicion of mismanaging government funds during his command.

Retired Gen. Raul Baduel was detained by military intelligence agents Friday morning, taken before a military court and released hours later.

Baduel told reporters as he left a Caracas military base at night that "one of the measures that has been imposed is that I can't talk about this proceeding." He also was ordered not to leave the country and to appear before prosecutors every 15 days.

Military officials have not announced any specific charge against him. But top military prosecutor Gen. Ernesto Jose Cedeno said Baduel is being investigated in connection with US$14 million that allegedly disappeared from armed forces coffers when he was defense minister.

Cedeno said Baduel was detained to answer questions in court about the missing funds, and that it's up to Baduel to "clear up the situation." He said the case is not retaliation for Baduel's opposition to Chavez's government, and the former general will be guaranteed "his full right to defense."

Once a close Chavez ally, Baduel quickly became a fierce critic after retiring from the military in July 2007. He helped persuade Venezuelans to vote down a constitutional referendum last year that would have, among other things, allowed the president to run for re-election indefinitely.

Baduel has repeatedly raised concerns that Chavez loyalists may use trumped-up charges to move against him politically.

"Everything is false and it's a defamatory campaign," Baduel's lawyer, Omar Mora Tosta, said of the detention. "Very few details were presented by (prosecutors) to accuse Gen. Baduel."

Baduel told The Associated Press earlier Friday that military intelligence agents approached him while he was at a crafts shop with his family and shoved him into an SUV in a "violent manner."

He said prosecutors allege he has failed to appear for court hearings - a charge he denied.


http://apnews.myway.com/article/20081004/D93JF5I81.html

[Disco_Destroyer]

Hmm looks like George Peppard to me
Hmm didn't they also work above the law

[gruts]

Russian officials: at least 20 killed in accident on nuclear-powered submarine in Pacific

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-eu-russia-submarin e,0,2254060.story

By STEVE GUTTERMAN | Associated Press Writer
8:00 AM EST, November 9, 2008

MOSCOW (AP) _ A new Russian submarine's fire safety system malfunctioned as the nuclear-powered vessel took a test run in the Sea of Japan, suffocating 20 people and sending 21 others to the hospital, officials said Sunday.

It was Russia's worst naval accident since torpedo explosions sank another nuclear-powered submarine, the Kursk, in the Barents Sea in 2000, killing all 118 seamen aboard.

The victims suffocated Saturday after the submarine's fire-extinguishing system accidentally turned on and released Freon gas, said Sergei Markin, an official with Russia's top investigative agency. He said forensic tests found Freon in the victims' lungs.

The submarine itself was not damaged and traveled back to its base on Russia's Pacific coast under its own power Sunday, Russian navy spokesman Capt. Igor Dygalo said.

The nuclear reactor that powers the sub was operating normally and radiation levels in the sub were also normal, Dygalo said. He said the accident affected two sections of the submarine closest to the bow.

Seventeen civilians and three seamen died in the accident and 21 others were hospitalized after being evacuated to a destroyer that brought them to shore, Markin said in a statement, revising earlier casualty figures.

Lev Fyodorov, a top Russian chemical expert, said Freon pushed oxygen out, causing those inside to die of suffocation. He also said the scarce official information was making it difficult to understand exactly what happened on the submarine.

It wasn't immediately clear why personnel affected failed to activate the individual breathing kits they were supposed to have, he said.

Markin's agency has launched a probe into the accident, which he said will focus on what activated the firefighting system and possible violations of operating rules.

The submarine returned to Bolshoi Kamen, a military shipyard and a navy base near Vladivostok. Russian television stations broadcast the footage of the submarine sailing toward the harbor.

Dygalo said the submarine had 208 people aboard, including 81 servicemen, and was to be commissioned by the navy later this year.

Russian news agencies quoted officials at the Amur Shipbuilding Factory as saying the submarine was built there and is called the Nerpa.

Construction of the Nerpa, an Akula II class attack submarine, started in 1991 but was suspended for years because of a shortage of funding, they said. Testing on the submarine began last month and it submerged for the first time last week.

First Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Kolmakov and navy chief Adm. Vladimir Vysotsky were heading for the Pacific Coast in the wake of the accident, Dygalo said.

Saturday's accident came as the Kremlin is seeking to restore Russia's naval reach, part of a drive to show off the nuclear-armed country's clout amid strained ties with the West. A naval squadron is heading to Venezuela for joint exercises this month in a show of force near U.S. waters.

Despite a major boost in military spending during Vladimir Putin's eight years as president, Russia's military is still hampered by decrepit infrastructure, aging weapons and problems with corruption and incompetence.

The Kremlin said President Dmitry Medvedev was told about the accident immediately and ordered a thorough investigation.

Putin, now prime minister, was criticized for his slow response to the Kursk disaster.

In 2003, 11 people also died when a Russian submarine that was being taken out of service sank in the Barents Sea.