Communist Bloc Military Updates: Russian Defense Ministry denies bombers to be stationed in Cuba, Chavez takes arms shopping list on 7th Moscow trip

- Backfire Bombers Hold Live-Fire Tactical Exercise in East Siberia

- Collective Security Treaty Organization Begins Rubezh-2008 Exercise in Armenia

Yesterday the Kremlin media warned the West that the Russian Air Force would deploy its strategic bombers to communist ally Cuba to counter US National Missile Defense plans in Poland the Czech Republic, two countries that remain under Moscow's covert influence. Today the Russian Defense Ministry "poured cold water" on the report, which cited a "highly placed source" in the military aviation complex and which initially appeared in the Russian daily Izvestia. However, the initial report with its cover of plausible deniability has served its purpose and now the Moscow Leninists can sit back and watch how the story plays out in Washington. Pictured above: Russian "President" Dmitry Medvedev welcomes Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to Moscow today.

Russian military scoffs at Cuba refuelling report
Mon Jul 21, 2008 7:18pm BST
By Dmitry Solovyov

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Defence Ministry officials on Monday poured cold water on a newspaper report that suggested Moscow could use Cuba as a refuelling base for nuclear-capable bombers.

Izvestia newspaper quoted a "highly placed source" as saying Russia could land Tu-160 supersonic bombers nicknamed "White Swans" in Cuba as a response to a planned U.S. missile defence shield in Europe which Moscow opposes.

"Will the White Swan settle on the Island of Freedom ? Russian military aircraft may return to Cuba," it said in a front-page headline.

The newspaper cited a "highly placed interlocutor in the headquarters of strategic aviation" as saying the possibility of using Cuba for landing the supersonic bombers had been discussed but no political decision had been taken on this.

The Kremlin declined immediate comment. The Defence Ministry questioned the story, saying it was written under a false name and quoted a source at an organisation that did not exist.

"Were our strategic bombers ever deployed in Cuba before?" a Defence Ministry official said when contacted by Reuters by telephone and asked whether bombers would be "returning" to the Caribbean island, 90 miles (150 km) from the U.S. coast.

Izvestia editor-in-chief Vladimir Mamontov stood by the story and said several of his journalists had worked under a pseudonym because of the story's sensitivity.

"The first remark was really made by a very competent person," Mamontov told Reuters.
Russia says U.S. plans to place parts of a missile defence shield in Poland and the Czech Republic threaten its security and that it will take unspecified retaliatory measures.

Former Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered Moscow to pull out from a Cold-War listening post on Cuba in 2001 but ordered the military last August to resume Cold War-era flights of strategic bombers around the globe.

Pictured here: Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin welcomes Chavez to Moscow today. This is Comrade Hugo's seventh trip to the neo-Soviet capital since becoming president of Venezuela in 1999. Chavez, who enjoys a close friendship with both Putin and Communist Party of the Russian Federation Chairman Gennady Zyuganov, once again brought a shopping list of military hardware and joint economic projects to present to his Soviet masters. He pledged to deepen bilateral cooperation between Caracas and Moscow, promising to buy more Russian combat aircraft, helicopters, and diesel submarines. Thus far, Red Venezuela has purchased more than 50 combat helicopters, 24 Su-30MK2 fighter jets, and 100,000 Ak-103 rifles. The Bolivarian Republic also holds a license for the production of the same rifles. All together Comrade Hugo has blown more than US$4 billion at the Moscow arms bazaar, and plans to blow another US$30 over the next four years.

Kremlin-run Novosti, citing Cuba's Prensa Latina news agency, quoted Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro as saying that the "Caracas-Moscow partnership was significant for the whole of South America, not just Venezuela." Indeed, Hugo is merely following in Fidel's bloody footsteps, although sustained by the revenue of Petróleos de Venezuela S.A.

Venezuelan president arrives in Moscow - 2
12:4822/ 07/ 2008

MOSCOW, July 22 (RIA Novosti) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez arrived in Moscow on Tuesday for "strategic" talks on political, economic and defense cooperation.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will receive Chavez later on Tuesday. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is also expected to meet with the Venezuelan leader.

Upon his arrival in Moscow, Chavez called for Russia and Venezuela to become strategic partners in oil and defense, something he said would "guarantee Venezuela's sovereignty, which is currently being threatened by the United States."

Ahead of his two-day visit, Chavez thanked Moscow for its recent support, including the provision of loans for the modernization of Venezuela's armed forces.

He also pledged to develop further bilateral cooperation with Moscow, saying that
Venezuela would continue to buy Russian military hardware, including combat aircraft and helicopters.

Venezuela has bought over 50 combat helicopters, 24 Su-30MK2 fighters, and 100,000 Ak-103 rifles from Russia. It also holds a license for the production of the aforementioned military hardware. The current contracts are worth about $4 billion.

"I hope we will sign a number of contracts we have been working on over the past few years, including in the energy sphere and on defense cooperation," the Venezuelan leader said.

Moscow plans to start supplying Venezuela with at least ten Mi-28N helicopters in the second half of 2009.

The two countries have also negotiated the delivery of three Russian Project 636 Kilo-class diesel submarines and at least 20 Tor-M1 air defense missile systems to Caracas. Contracts for these two deals, if signed, may be worth another $1 billion.

The Spanish news agency Efe earlier said the potential acquisition of tanks by Venezuela could be discussed during the talks.

The Venezuelan leader will also hold a meeting with officials from the Il aircraft manufacturer, and defense contracts are also expected to be signed. The Latin American country is interested in purchasing about 20 Il-114 patrol aircraft, some Russian sources said.

In line with the state program for the modernization of the armed forces until 2012, Venezuela is planning to spend about $30 bln in the next four years on the purchase of weaponry abroad.

The deals may see Russia become the main supplier of military equipment to Venezuela. Chavez, an outspoken critic of Washington, has focused his foreign policy on bolstering ties with countries outside the U.S. sphere of influence since coming to power nine years ago.

Chavez also plans to discuss the establishment of a Russian-Venezuelan bank to finance joint projects. The Venezuelan government has already made amendments to the law on the Central Bank for the purpose.

The Prensa Latina news agency earlier quoted Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro as saying that the Caracas-Moscow partnership was significant for the whole of South America, not just Venezuela.

Pictured here: Closet communist Putin and open communist Zyuganov swap notes at a July 18, 2008 meeting.

The Russian military continues to prepare for the Fourth World War in the latest round of live-fire missile drills in East Siberia. Although the Novosti report below refers to the Tu-22 Blinder tactical bomber, the picture provided on that webpage is the variant known as the Tu-22M Backfire. The Blinder was first commissioned for the Soviet Air Force in 1962 but was gradually phased out of service in favor of the more capable Backfire, which forms part of the current Russian Air Force. It appears, therefore, that Novosti probably means the Backfire, rather than the Blinder.

Five Russian Tu-22 Blinder bombers will fire live missiles at a test range in East Siberia's Irkutsk Region during tactical exercises starting on Wednesday, the Air Force said on Tuesday. Spokesman Lt. Col. Vladimir Drik said the three-man crews will receive training in combat flight theory and enhance their aviation weaponry skills. "The exercises will last until July 25, and five Tu-22 aircraft will take part in them. The bomber crews will also master interoperability with other Air Force branches and Air Defense units," he said. The Tu-22 supersonic bomber was designed by the Tupolev aerospace and defense company and entered service in the Soviet Air Force in 1962. The jet has been used by the air forces of several countries including Libya and Iraq.

As previously reported, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (flag below), which is the military pact undergirding the Commonwealth of Independent States, is beginning the first stage of a command-and-staff exercise that will bring together troops from Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. The scenario envisioned by the Rubezh-2008 planners depicts a defensive operation in which one member of the CIS is under attack by a hostile external state. State-run Itar-Tass reports: "During the first and second stages a procedure of drafting some proposals to the Collective Security Council in order to give military and military-technical assistance to a CSTO country, which was attacked. The second stage of the exercise will be held in Russia at the CSTO joint headquarters. At the third stage the CSTO states will train a military operation for the protection of sovereignty and territorial integrity of the 'attacked' country. The fourth stage envisages a defense operation." CSTO Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha is a career Chekist.

First stage of CSTO command-staff exercise begins in Armenia
22.07.2008, 13.58

MOSCOW, July 22 (Itar-Tass) - The first stage of the joint complex command-staff exercise Rubezh (Border) - 2008 of the member-countries of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) began in Armenia on Tuesday.

“The first and second phases of the exercise are political ones, during which a situation will be modelled to outline the steps of the CSTO member-countries and the organisation on the whole in order to alleviate tensions fanned up in the collective security region as a result of the actions undertaken by the destructive third forces, and the political settlement of the conflict will be practiced,” the press service of the CSTO Secretariat told Itar-Tass.

“The first and second stages for the CSTO Secretariat as a political body of the organisation are more interesting than the next stages, at which only military actions are planned,” CSTO Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha believes. According to the CSTO Secretariat, Bordyuzha will attend personally the first stage of the exercise on Tuesday.

The exercise Border-2008 is held under the decision taken by the CSTO supreme body – the Collective Security Council.

The exercise will be held in four phases in Armenia and Russia. During the first and second stages a procedure of drafting some proposals to the Collective Security Council in order to give military and military-technical assistance to a CSTO country, which was attacked. The second stage of the exercise will be held in Russia at the CSTO joint headquarters. At the third stage the CSTO states will train a military operation for the protection of sovereignty and territorial integrity of the ‘attacked’ country. The fourth stage envisages a defense operation.

The exercise will have a purely anti-terrorist and command-staff thrust, “so, no major troop transfers are planned,” Bordyuzha told reporters earlier.

The CSTO brings together Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.