The Venezuelan government needs new weapons to avoid the fate of the Gaddafi regime, President Hugo Chavez said in an interview last week with Russian business newspaper Kommersant. Russia may soon dispatch S-300 missile systems and other modern weapons to Venezuela, which wants to pay for these armaments with a Russian loan.
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Caracas intends to request a $4 billion loan from Moscow to buy Russian weapons, Chavez said in the Miraflores presidential palace last Wednesday. One wonders which loan he had in mind.
It was announced in fall 2010 that Russia would open a $4 billion credit line for Venezuela, so it is unclear if Caracas will at long last take the money made available last fall to buy Russian-made weapons, or if it is seeking to negotiate a new loan.
According to some analysts, the money allocated last fall was not spent on armaments but on guarantees for several Russian-Venezuelan investment projects.
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20110829/166285499.html