VOLGOGRAD, July 25 (RIA Novosti) - Venezuela's president arrived in Volgograd in southern Russia Tuesday from the capital of Belarus, Minsk, where he had held talks with the Belarusian president.

The outspoken South American leader is on a tour of eastern Europe in a bid to expand ties with the region, which is home to some of the world's leading defense-industry plants and has considerable mineral wealth.

Chavez, who was elected president in 1998, will meet with the governor of the Volgograd Region and local businessmen and will pay a visit to the Volgograd Tractor Plant, which also produces tanks and other military vehicles.

Chavez will later leave Volgograd for the capital of the Volga Region republic of Udmurtia, Izhevsk, where he will meet with gun-maker Mikhail Kalashnikov and visit a defense-industry plant.

Oil-rich Venezuela is a major purchaser of Russian weapons and hardware. In late 2004, the two countries signed a $54 million contract for the supply of 100,000 automatic rifles. In June this year, Chavez said he planned to build a plant to make Kalashnikov rifles and cartridges in the country.