Deployment of Russian military power to the Western Hemisphere

According to sources, a Russian navy squadron set off for Venezuela today in a deployment of Russian military power to the Western Hemisphere unprecedented since the Cold War, in a bid by Russia to boost military links in Latin America.  The Russians will conduct joint maneuvers with the Venezuelan navy.

Translation:  to poke a stick at the United States of America again.  The Russians may be making a little stopover in Syria.  hmmm....

The Kremlin has moved to intensify contacts with Venezuela, Cuba and other Latin American nations amid increasingly strained relations with Washington after last month’s war between Russia and Georgia.

During the Cold War, Latin America became an ideological battleground between the Soviet Union and the United States.

Russian navy spokesman Igor Dygalo said the nuclear-powered Peter the Great cruiser accompanied by three other ships sailed from the Northern Fleet’s base of Severomorsk on Monday. The ships will cover about 15,000 nautical miles to conduct joint maneuvers with the Venezuelan navy, he told The Associated Press.

Dygalo refused to comment on Monday’s report in the daily Izvestia claiming that the ships were to make a stopover in the Syrian port of Tartus on their way to Venezuela. Russian officials said the Soviet-era base there was being renovated to serve as a foothold for a permanent Russian navy presence in the Mediterranean.

Above: The nuclear-powered Peter the Great cruiser, pictured in 2004, and three other ships are off to Venezuela.  (continue reading)

From Michael Schwirtz,  NYT:

Last week, two Russian Tu-160 strategic bombers flew to Venezuela for exercises over the Caribbean Sea, and a Russian delegation led by Igor I. Sechin, a deputy prime minister and chairman of the Russian oil company Rosneft, visited Caracas and Havana for talks on expanding economic ties. It was Mr. Sechin’s second visit to the region in less than two months.  [snip]

Russia has denied that the war in Georgia had any connection to the Russian navy’s planned exercises with Venezuela. “These exercises were planned long before the Georgian-Ossetian conflict,” Mr. Dygalo said. “They are not linked to the conflict.”  (continue reading at Peace and Freedom '08)

Russia’s strategic bomber Tu-160 or White Swan, the largest supersonic bomber in the world, lands at Engels Air Base near Saratov, about 700 kilometers (450 miles) southeast of Moscow, Thursday, Aug. 7, 2008. Two of these aircraft recently deployed to Venezuela.  NATO knows Russia’s biggest supersonic bomber as the Blackjack. (AP Photo/Misha Japaridze) 

Comments

[joe]

Who cares about their military, ships or jets we all know that when it comes down to a nuclear war is any other kind of military equipment going to make a difference. So if Russia has a weak military or not does that really matter? NO!

[Robocop]

Why doesn't this country admit that we are in a Cold War again? It is a reality we may fear, but it is a reality.

[Steve Harkonnen]

Courtneyme raises a good point - what might they sneak in?

Russia cannot afford another Cuba, and if we detect presence of missiles capable of hitting the US, Russia is toast.

[courtneyme109]

True. When it's all about ship killing - Sunburn got game. Sunburn's launch sites - even when camo'd would be easy kills for Air Force and Naval Aviation though.

A couple of Blackjacks near Carracas or Russian navy ships in the Carib are not really the issue.

The quiz is - what are they sneaking in?

[Steve Harkonnen]

Deb, actually, their weapons are in pretty good shape.

Look up information on the Sunburn missile, for example. I am not so sure that we have the capabilities of effective countermeasures against it.

[Debbie]

Steve: Good points. I also read that Russia is providing Iran and Venezuela with weapons. I know that they have oil/gas money now, but their weapons are in sad shape according to reports.

[Steve Harkonnen]

Russia has made some advances in replacing degraded military equipment, but I am willing to bet that they will have at least some of their missile launch tubes on their ships filled in with concrete due to the earlier treaties made with the west. I saw this during my few days/nights underway with Vinogradov, one of their destroyers that came into Bahrain many years ago. Back then, most of their ships were in sad disarray and badly needed maintenance.

This exercise may sound unique, but definitely not threatening. I agree that this exercise was planned well before the Georgian conflict however.

Tartus was a Syrian base often used by Russian vessels during the Cold War. But it's really not that big of a deal.

Willing to also bet that some sort of accident will happen during this Caribbean venture. Either one of their subs will get tangled in lobster traps (again, it's happened before) or they'll have some sort of a collision.

It's a big show of force, a dog and pony show declaring "look at us" and we'll probably even see some sightings just off the coast of Miami.

But what really bothered me was how the Russian puppet, er, president, ordered Russian forces to halt their incursion into Georgia and they kept on going. That tells me that the corruption in Russia is reaching new levels where the Army can ignore their president. That is something to worry about.

[Katie]

Putin sees the US as weak and getting weaker (especially Obama) so he is trying to play Stalin.

It is too bad that his military is in such bad shape. They couldn't knock out the Taliban (in the 80's and 90's) and can barely fight today. All that really works militarily for the Russians are their nuclear weapons. Without them, they are a paper tiger.

[Angel]

Debbie..who would have ever thought we would also be worrying about Russia!!