| The President of Venezuela decided to come to Moscow at the wrong time The visit of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to Moscow will not take place these days. “The president will not come,” Omar Echeverria, Venezuela’s charge d’affaires in Moscow, told Vremya Novostey yesterday. A source in the Russian Foreign Ministry told us about the same thing: “Such a visit is not and has not been included in the plans”...
Reports of the arrival of 50-year-old Hugo Chavez in the Russian capital appeared in early October, after the National Assembly (Parliament) of Venezuela allowed the president to leave the country and make a number of foreign visits until October 25 (this procedure exists in many Latin American countries). Among the countries to visit were Portugal, Spain, Italy, Russia and France.
The appearance of Moscow on this list, according to VN, was a surprise for the Russian embassy in Caracas, because before that there had been no negotiations about the dates of the visit. “Russia’s appearance on the list happened at the last moment,” Venezuelan diplomats admit. And this is quite in the spirit of President Chavez, who does not respect protocol too much. For example, during his previous visit to Moscow in November last year, not one, as planned, but three presidential planes unexpectedly arrived.
Why won't the visit take place? “It didn’t work out,” a diplomat from Venezuela philosophically remarked to our newspaper. But, apparently, Moscow has made it clear to Caracas that a spontaneous visit by Hugo Chavez is now inappropriate. Perhaps Moscow believes that the leader of Venezuela “frequently” visits Russia (Hugo Chavez visited the Russian capital three times: in May and October 2001 and in November 2004) and thereby draws Moscow too much into the confrontation between Caracas and Washington. As a source in the Russian Foreign Ministry told VN, Venezuela understood Russia’s arguments, and signals were received that Hugo Chavez would not insist on coming to Moscow. But it cannot be ruled out that everything may change, because the last word in such decisions remains with the unpredictable Chavez and the Kremlin.
Relations between the two countries are now good. Although, according to Moscow, Caracas’ promises are often “not filled with real content.” A few years ago, Hugo Chavez spoke of Venezuela’s support for Russia’s accession to the WTO as a done deal. But the negotiations have not been completed. And recently, Caracas extended restrictions on Russian steel exports to Venezuela for another five years.
Already in December of this year, according to the signed contract, deliveries of 100 thousand Russian Kalashnikov assault rifles to Venezuela were to begin (this contract caused terrible discontent in the United States). But this did not happen due to a delay in the payment of the advance by the Venezuelan side. Caracas explained the delay by the need for additional approvals under Venezuelan laws. Now, as stated by Venezuelan Defense Minister Admiral Orlando Managlia Ferreira, everything has been settled, and the machine guns will arrive in the country in the first quarter of 2006.
But cooperation is developing. On October 4, OJSC Gazprom, in the presence of Hugo Chavez, received from the government of Venezuela licenses for the exploration and development of natural gas fields in this country for a period of 30 years. On October 12, LUKOIL Overseas and CVP (the investment division of the state oil and gas company of Venezuela PDVSA) signed an agreement to explore the Yunin-3 block, which is in the “heavy oil belt of the Orinoco River.”
Chavez's possible visit to Russia has given rise to speculation that he may ask to sell a nuclear reactor to Venezuela (he has repeatedly stated his desire to develop his own nuclear program for peaceful purposes). But VN’s source in Rosatom said that Moscow had not received such proposals from Caracas.
So the central point of Hugo Chavez's European tour will be Spain - in Salamanca he will take part in the 15th Iberian-American Summit, which will be attended by leaders of 22 Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries. The arrival of 79-year-old Cuban leader Fidel Castro is also expected.
The new Venezuelan ambassador, Alexis Navarro Rojas, arrives in Moscow on Monday. He was previously governor of the state of Nueva Esparta and was confirmed for the diplomatic post on May 31.
And on October 17, a short (one day) visit to Russia by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will begin. His delegation will be huge (three planes), and the negotiations will focus on economic cooperation. The trade turnover between the two countries is $2.5 billion. The presidents set the goal of bringing it to $25 billion within a decade. Andrey ZLOBIN |
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