MOSCOW, June 28 (RIA Novosti) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will hold talks with his Russian counterpart Thursday focusing on bilateral trade and economic relations, on the first day of his working visit to Russia, a Kremlin source said.
At the talks between Chavez and Vladimir Putin, the leaders will focus on "issues relating to diversifying and expanding trade, and promoting promising investment projects," the Kremlin source said.
Fuel and energy will be at the focus of the economics discussions. Russian companies including oil and gas giants LUKoil and Gazprom, and power plant builder Technopromexport are "increasing their presence on the Venezuelan market," the source said.
The South American leader will leave Moscow for the Belarusian capital, Minsk, on Friday afternoon, before traveling to Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia.
During his visit to Russia, the outspoken socialist president is expected to sign substantial deals on Russian arms deliveries to Venezuela.
A Russian military expert said earlier in June that Chavez could finalize a deal to purchase Russian diesel submarines for the Venezuelan Navy. The contract is reportedly for the supply of five Project 636 Kilo-class diesel submarines and four state-of-the-art Project 677 Amur submarines.
Konstantin Makiyenko, Deputy Director of the Center for the Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, said: "Most likely, they will buy five Project 636 submarines with missile systems... but they could end up buying nine."
The expert said the multi-billion dollar contract could be split into two or three parts, and include construction of submarine bases and training of submarine crews.
In 2005-2006, Venezuela ordered $3.4 billion worth of hardware and weaponry from Russia, including 24 Su-30MK2V Flanker fighters, Tor-M1 air defense missile systems, Mi-26 Halo heavy transport helicopters, and 100,000 AK-103 Kalashnikov assault rifles.
Later Thursday the Venezuelan president will open a center for Latin American culture in the Russian capital, and on Friday he will make a speech to lawmakers at the State Duma.
