US to watch Russian-Venezuelan maneuvers ‘very closely’

The US State Department said Monday it will watch “very closely” upcoming Russian-Venezuelan naval maneuvers but dismissed any notion they were a challenge to US influence in the region.

In Moscow, the Russian navy said a group of Russian warships is due to arrive in Venezuela on Tuesday, ahead of joint exercises with the Venezuelan navy and a visit by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

“I don’t think there’s any question about who … the region looks to in terms of political, economic, diplomatic and as well as military power,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters when asked for comment.

“If the Venezuelans and the Russians want to have, you know, a military exercise, that’s fine, but we’ll obviously be watching it very closely,” he added.

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“Contrast that with the recent meeting in Lima that just took place among APEC members, which they’re talking about effective action to deal with global economic crisis,” McCormack said.

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“I think that’s where people’s attention is really focused,” he said.

He was referring to the weekend summit in Peru of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, which focused on the global financial and economic crisis.

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