MOSCOW, June 26 (RIA Novosti) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez may pay an official visit to Russia in late July, the country's vice president said Thursday.
Venezuelan Vice-President Ramon Carrizales is in Moscow on an official and met Thursday with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov.
"The exact date of the visit has not been confirmed yet, but it may take place at the end of July," Carrizales said.
Zhukov said Venezuela remains Russia's most important partner in Latin America.
The two countries have been prioritizing cooperation in the energy and mining sectors. Russian gas monopoly Gazprom, the country's largest independent oil producer LUKoil, Russian-British joint oil venture TNK-BP, aluminum giant RusAl and a number of other companies are active in the Venezuelan market.
Oil-rich Venezuela is also a major purchaser of Russian weapons and hardware. In 2005-2006, Venezuela ordered weaponry from Russia worth $3.4 billion, including 24 Su-30MK2V Flanker fighters, Tor-M1 air defense missile systems, Mi-17B multi-role helicopters, Mi-35 Hind E attack helicopters and Mi-26 Halo heavy transport helicopters.
However, Carrizales said military and technical cooperation between the two countries was not a priority, and denied some Russian media speculations that Venezuela was interested in buying Russian submarines.
"Our countries are developing wide-ranging cooperation - in the energy, food and industrial sectors," he said. "Statements about Venezuela's intention to buy a definite number of [Russian] submarines are pure fantasy."
