The Miami Herald March 15, 2009
Russians may land long-range bombers in Venezuela, Cuba
By Carol Rosenberg and Phil Gunson
CARACAS -- The Russian military has reached a contingency agreement to land long-range supersonic bomber aircraft in Venezuela, according to reports from Moscow on Saturday, which analysts cast as a nuisance rather than reason for alarm.
U.S. Defense and diplomatic officials told The Miami Herald they were aware of the report by the at-times unreliable InterFax agency but downplayed its significance.
''Our analysts weren't caught unaware and don't believe this is anything alarming,'' said Army Col. Bill Costello, spokesman for the Pentagon's Southern Command.
There was no immediate reaction from the Venezuelan government.
InterFax quoted a Russian Air Force chief, Maj. Gen. Anatoly Zhikharev, as saying that Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez had offered an island off the country's Caribbean coast as a support base for strategic Russian bombers.
Zhikharev also was quoted as saying that Soviet-era ally Cuba could be used to base the aircraft, too.
`A WHOLE ISLAND'
InterFax said Chávez had offered ''a whole island'' with an airfield that ''we can use as a temporary base for strategic bombers'' -- an apparent reference to La Orchila, home to Antonio Diaz Naval Air Station, off the north-central coast.
La Orchila is Venezuela's version of Camp David, a presidential retreat used by Chávez for summits and at-times clandestine meetings. The president also was detained there, briefly, during his 2002 ouster.
While the report broke Saturday, La Orchila has been the focus of Russian interest for some time.
Venezuelan media reported in November that, while President Dmitry Medvedev toured Latin America, Russian military inspected the island's airstrip.
The two nations' navies were engaging in joint exercises at the time, a reflection of a Russian military push into the region in recent years -- mainly to sell military hardware. But U.S. officials said at the time that they were more concerned about Iran's activities in the region than Russia's.
HITTING `RESET BUTTON'
Analysts also noted the timing of Saturday's report: the United States and Russia are vying for influence in Latin America, even as the Obama administration has said it is seeking to hit the ''reset button'' on relations with the Kremlin.
InterFax quoted the Russian general as earlier saying that Cuba, too, has air bases with four or five runways long enough for the huge bombers that could host the long-range planes.
But Alexei Pavlov, a Kremlin official, told The Associated Press that ''the military is speaking about technical possibilities, that's all. If there will be a development of the situation, then we can comment,'' he said.
Defense analyst John Pike of GlobalSecurity.Org said Saturday he had no independent basis to confirm it but thought the base agreement was plausible.
''The Russians have resumed bomber and maritime reconnaissance patrols, and in the old days, they could get out of the plane and stretch their legs in Cuba before heading home,'' he said, downplaying any notion of alarm.
''In purely military terms,'' he said, ``the odds of the U.S. fighting either Venezuela or Russia are pretty low. A few bombers more or less would not make much difference, in any event.''
Analysts suggested Saturday's report from Moscow, even unconfirmed, illustrated what Pike called ``a continuing intent on the part of both countries to annoy the United States.''
Obama and Medvedev are scheduled to meet early next month on the sidelines of the G-20 economic summit in London, with the touchy topic of the need for a strategic missile shield likely on the agenda.
Meantime, Obama hosted Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Saturday -- the first Latin American head of state to be received by Obama at the White House. Lula da Silva, seen as a pragmatist, has helped soothe tensions between Washington and Caracas.
''What a coincidence that this news item should appear today, when Lula is meeting Obama,'' said Venezuelan defense and security analyst Rocio San Miguel.
The report comes at a time of growing cooperation between the Venezuelan and Russian militaries.
Russian fighter bombers have already trained with their Venezuelan counterparts and the Peter the Great, one of Russia's most powerful warships, led the joint naval exercises off Venezuela's coast in November.
Venezuelan reports said at the time that the Kremlin's air chief visited La Orchila with Russian experts and found the airstrip needed small modification to take the Tu-160 strategic bomber.
Specifically, it needed to be lengthened from 10,500 feet to 11,500. Its present length can in theory already accommodate the F-16s and Sukhois of the Venezuelan air force, if the strip is maintained for sophisticated aircraft.
ADAPTING THE AIRSTRIP
Former Venezuelan Defense Minister Raul Isaias Baduel confirmed in an interview Saturday that the airstrip could be adapted to meet Russian needs.
But he noted that such a deal was ''strictly prohibited under Article 13 of our Constitution,'' which forbids foreign powers from establishing military installations on Venezuelan soil.
An American military analyst who has studied Latin America for 20 years questioned whether the Cuban airstrips were maintained well enough to handle anything more sophisticated than cargo aircraft.
Absent details from the Kremlin, he said, the general may have exaggerated the arrangement or ``may have gotten ahead of this.''
''I would have to wait for more information or confirmation from Moscow,'' said the analyst, who was skeptical of the report and declined to comment with his name attached. ``It surprises me because we're pressing the reset button on Russian-U.S. relations and for the Russians to say this at this point seems out of whack.''
Carol Rosenberg reported from Miami and Phil Gunson from Caracas.
© Copyright 2009, The Miami Herald
