Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Friday embarked on a four-nation Latin American tour seen as sending a defiant message to the US at the close of the George W. Bush presidency.
The tour, including talks with the outgoing US leader, naval exercises off Venezuela and a visit to arch US foe Cuba, has raised fears of renewed Cold War-style rivalry in Latin America, while also attracting skepticism.
“The current level of cooperation could be broader than in the Soviet era. Latin America has already ceased to be the United States’ backyard,” a Russian diplomat told the Russian daily Kommersant ahead of Medvedev’s arrival from Portugal.
“Now the region is following its own line, which gives Russia an opportunity to strengthen our position,” the official said.
Medvedev arrived in Peru early yesterday, meeting Bush at the APEC forum, where Russia’s anti-US stance and absence from the WTO contrasts with most APEC states.
Officials said Bush and Medvedev would discuss the global financial crisis, the August war in Georgia and the touchstone issue of US missile defense plans in eastern Europe.
Today, Medvedev was also to hold talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), whose own Latin American tour this week underlined growing outside interest in the region.
Russian analysts say Moscow’s quest for influence in Latin America is intended to counter US influence in the former Soviet satellites of eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia.
Tomorrow, the Russian leader heads to Brazil, a key trading partner.
On Wednesday, he goes to Venezuela for talks with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a vocal critic of Washington, as Russian warships prepare for joint exercises in the Caribbean Sea.
Russian media say officials will pursue arms and energy deals with Venezuela, whose Russian weapons purchases have prompted concern that arms stockpiles could fall into the hands of leftist rebels in neighboring Colombia.
Lima-based analyst Alejandro Deustua, of the country’s Diplomatic Academy, criticized Russia’s role in South America, saying it was time for Russia to “explain plainly to each South American country what their intentions are with these military exercises.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov insisted Russian weapons sold in Latin America were defensive rather than offensive and that Russian moves were not aimed at “third countries” — a clear reference to the US, RIA Novosti reported.
Medvedev rounds off his tour in Cuba, the flagship ally of the Soviet Union in the Cold War and the US’ communist foe in the western hemisphere since the late 1950s.
Russian energy firms have been seeking projects in Latin America such as possible involvement in a planned South American gas pipeline.
A proposed Russian purchase of Spanish energy company Repsol — a major player in the region — could advance such goals.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
UNREST: The authorities in Turkey arrested 13 Turkish journalists in five days, deported a BBC correspondent and on Thursday arrested a reporter from Sweden Waving flags and chanting slogans, many hundreds of thousands of anti-government demonstrators on Saturday rallied in Istanbul, Turkey, in defence of democracy after the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu which sparked Turkey’s worst street unrest in more than a decade. Under a cloudless blue sky, vast crowds gathered in Maltepe on the Asian side of Turkey’s biggest city on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr celebration which started yesterday, marking the end of Ramadan. Ozgur Ozel, chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which organized the rally, said there were 2.2 million people in the crowd, but
JOINT EFFORTS: The three countries have been strengthening an alliance and pressing efforts to bolster deterrence against Beijing’s assertiveness in the South China Sea The US, Japan and the Philippines on Friday staged joint naval drills to boost crisis readiness off a disputed South China Sea shoal as a Chinese military ship kept watch from a distance. The Chinese frigate attempted to get closer to the waters, where the warships and aircraft from the three allied countries were undertaking maneuvers off the Scarborough Shoal — also known as Huangyan Island (黃岩島) and claimed by Taiwan and China — in an unsettling moment but it was warned by a Philippine frigate by radio and kept away. “There was a time when they attempted to maneuver
RSS