Venezuela is considering the issue of purchasing air defense equipment from Belarus. As reported by ITAR-TASS , Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez stated this on television .

“We are talking and working on this with the Belarusian side,” the president emphasized, adding that Venezuela needs a modern air defense system. According to Chavez, arms purchases from China and Belarus will compensate for the embargo imposed by the United States on arms exports to Venezuela last May.

This year, the Venezuelan parliament ratified an agreement on military-technical cooperation with Belarus. The document provides for the comprehensive development of military-technical ties between the two countries. We are talking, in particular, about cooperation “in the production, modernization, and supply by the Belarusian side of weapons for ground forces, military aviation and air defense.”

The agreement, which also stipulates the obligations of suppliers to provide spare parts and service for military equipment, will allow for the joint development of new weapons, communications and electronics.

As previously reported, during his visit to Minsk in July last year, Hugo Chavez, together with the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko , visited the Military Academy, where the capital's Tetrahedron enterprise presented the heads of state with the modernized Pechora-2T and Osa-1T anti-aircraft missile systems ".

Hugo Chavez plans to purchase anti-aircraft guns from Lukashenko