Putin Signs Energy Deals with Chavez on Venezuela Visit

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has signed a series of key energy deals with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez during a visit to the capital, Caracas, reports BBC News.

Chavez said Russia had agreed to help Venezuela with a nuclear power plant and on building a space industry. However, the Venezuelan leader insisted that "we are not building an alliance against the United States."

Bolivian President Evo Morales was also invited to meet Putin in Caracas and expected to seek Russian loans to purchase military hardware and to discuss gas and oil exploration in Bolivia.

According to BBC News, the Venezuelan government is sending a message that it now has other powerful friends who share common bonds in energy, military hardware and international relations.

The Russian leader gave Chavez a multi-million-dollar down payment for oil exploration rights in the Orinoco River Belt.

Chavez said that Russia offers help so that Venezuela can have its own industry for the use of outer space. "We could install a satellite launcher here and a factory. We are already doing so with China, but Russia is offering to support Venezuela build its own [space] industry."

At a joint news conference after their meeting, the Venezuelan leader said: "We are prepared to begin drawing up the first project for a nuclear power generator, obviously for peaceful purposes. We aren't going to make an atomic bomb," he added.

Venezuela has recently suffered widespread power cuts and is looking to nuclear power as a solution.