Moscow strengthens presence in U.S.’ backyard

MOSCOW

This month, the Kremlin has made it clear what Putin meant. It deployed two Russian strategic bombers to Venezuela to patrol Caribbean waters earlier this month, and on Monday it dispatched a navy squadron to Venezuela for military exercises.

The appearance of the Tu-160 bombers and the expected arrival of four Russian warships in a Latin American country run by one of the Bush administration’s most outspoken foes, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, marks Moscow’s clearest signal yet that it intends to ramp up its influence in Latin America if Washington persists in setting root in territory the Kremlin regards as its backyard.

“It may look unfriendly to Americans, but now you can have the same feeling as we had in Russia,” said Andrei Klimov, a Putin loyalist and deputy chairman of the foreign affairs committee for the Duma, Russia’s lower chamber of parliament.

Chicago Tribune