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Caracas: Two Russian strategic bombers landed in Venezuela on Wednesday as part of military manoeuvres, President Hugo Chavez said, welcoming the unprecedented deployment at a time of increasing tensions between Moscow and the US.
The Venezuelan leader said the two Russian Tu-160 bombers will conduct manoeuvres and that he hopes to "fly one of those things" himself.
Russian military analysts said it was the first time Russian strategic bombers have landed in the Western Hemisphere since the Cold War. The provocative foray into Venezuela was certain to add to the strain in US-Russian relations created over Russia's war in Georgia.
Training mission
Chavez called the deployment part of a move toward a "pluri-polar world" - a reference to moving away from US dominance. "The Yankee hegemony is finished," Chavez said in a televised speech.
The Russian Defense Ministry said the bombers flew to Venezuela on a training mission and would conduct training flights over neutral waters in the next few days before returning to Russia, according to a statement carried by Russian news wires.
Ministry spokesman Alexander Drobyshevsky refused to say how long the deployment would last or whether the planes were carrying any weapons. Military officers in the past have said Russian strategic bombers do not carry live weapons on patrol flights.
Nato fighters escorted the two Russian bombers on their 13-hour trip to Venezuela over the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, the Defence Ministry said.
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