Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Tuesday met his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, as part of a visit aimed at purchasing arms and bolstering ties with the other oil giant.
"I watch the rebirth of Russia with great respect and great love," Chavez, a fierce critic of U.S. President George W. Bush and U.S. foreign policy, said at the beginning of his meeting with Medvedev, who was inaugurated in May.
Chavez, a leftist firebrand, also passed on greetings to Medvedev from veteran Cuban leader Fidel Castro saying: "Fidel speaks of a crisis of reason, especially in the most powerful countries. Russia has restored this reason."
Chavez' two-day visit to Russia - a top oil power like Venezuela - is the first leg of a European tour that will take in Belarus, Portugal and Spain.
"Russia and Venezuela must become strategic allies in the oil sphere and in military-technical cooperation," the RIA Novosti news agency quoted Chavez as saying on arrival.
"This will guarantee the sovereignty of Venezuela, because we are now threatened by the United States," he added.
The first concrete result of the visit was a round of deals allowing three Russian companies to work in Venezuala's oil-rich Orinoco Belt.
Lukoil and TNK-BP Holding (TNBP.RS) will be allowed to explore for oil, while a subsidiary of Russian gas giant OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS) will be allowed to assess gas reserves there, under deals signed at Medvedev's residence in Barvikha, near Moscow.
"We expect the signing of a range of contracts" in the arms sector, a member of the Venezuelan delegation was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying.
He added that purchases could include Russian tanks and submarines.
Chavez was also due to meet Sergei Chemezov, who oversees Russian arms export monopoly Rosoboronexport, a Kremin source said Tuesday.
Earlier, a Russian arms industry source told Interfax that Venezuela was planning to buy 20 Tor-M1 air defence systems and three submarines for a total value of $1 billion.
Officials were also set to continue discussions on building a Kalashnikov factory and a training center for helicopter pilots in Venezuela, the Gazeta daily reported Monday.
The Kommersant daily said Tuesday that a complicating factor in talks could be Venezuela's relationship with its neighbor Colombia, which accuses Chavez of aiding the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, a rebel group.
Kommersant said Chavez hoped to buy Igla surface-to-air missiles and Moscow could require him to sign documents "that would legally not allow Caracas to secretly pass on the Russian weapons to third countries," the newspaper said.
"If Russian weapons surface in the conflict zone, Moscow would be threatened not only with a significant worsening of relations with Bogota, but with Washington too," Kommersant said, without citing any sources.