Yankee hegemony finished: Chavez

MOSCOW: Russian nuclear-capable bombers have arrived in Venezuela for unprecedented joint exercises in the Caribbean, which would later be joined by Russian warships, including nuclear submarines.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said he had ordered strategic bombers to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. Two Tu-160s, the world’s biggest long-range bombers, landed in Venezuela on Wednesday in the first Russian military foray into the Western Hemisphere since the Cold War ended.
The Russian Defence Ministry said the bombers flew to Venezuela on a training mission and would conduct training flights over neutral waters before returning to Russia next Monday.
“The Yankee hegemony is finished,” said Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez in a televised speech announcing the arrival of Russia’s warplanes. Mr. Chavez, a former Air Force pilot, said he would pilot one of the Russian planes over Cuba to please his friend, the Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Russia’s Navy plans to send a nuclear cruiser flagship, submarines and anti-ship aircraft to Venezuela for joint naval manoeuvres later this year.