Russia Sets War Games in Caribbean

WASHINGTON — With American-Russian relations declining to the point of Cold War-era posturing, Moscow is sending ships to the Caribbean.

If the scheduled joint exercises with the Venezuelan navy take place, the maneuver would be one of Russia's most provocative exercises in the Western Hemisphere since the Soviet Union supported Marxist guerrillas in Nicaragua and El Salvador — and could entangle the Kremlin in the Monroe Doctrine, which holds that the Europeans should keep out of the American hemisphere.

The chief of Venezuela's naval intelligence, Admiral Salbatore Cammarata Bastidas, said in a statement that Russian warships, along with 1,000 Russian soldiers, are headed to Caracas in November for a series of military exercises.

The move appears to be a response to the decision by the U.S. Navy earlier this year to re-form the Fourth Fleet to patrol the Caribbean. The Pentagon has justified the re-creation of the fleet, which was disbanded in 1953, as part of an effort to prevent drug smuggling, in light of Venezuela's decision not to cooperate with the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The Russian-Venezuelan military effort is also in keeping with Moscow's newly emboldened foreign policy. Last month, the Russians reportedly sent an aircraft carrier and its attendant fleet to Syria. Moscow is also in the process of selling an advanced anti-aircraft system to Iran, though the final equipment has yet to be shipped to the Islamic Republic. The completion of that weapons sale has the potential to make any future bombing of Iran's nuclear facilities a riskier proposition for both Israel and America.

In his weekly television address, President Chavez of Venezuela said: "Russia's naval fleet is welcome here. If it's possible, we'll stage an exercise in our Caribbean waters." Anticipating criticism from Washington, he taunted his northern neighbor, saying, "Go ahead and squeal, Yankees."

Despite Mr. Chavez's tough rhetoric, the Venezuelan leader has suffered some setbacks in the last year, among them the weakening of the FARC, the Colombian Marxist rebel group that Mr. Chavez has supported.

Nonetheless, the Venezuelan government, flush with cash from its petroleum exports, has indicated that it is seeking to purchase Russian submarines.

The announcement of the military exercises comes as the Bush administration is navigating its response to Russia's invasion of Georgia, a former Soviet republic that hosts a small American military base.

Over the weekend, Vice President Cheney had particularly harsh words for Russia, calling the recent invasion an "affront to the standards of the civilized world."

"Though aware of these responsibilities, Russia has yet to meet them," he said on a visit to Italy. "Indeed, it has taken the opposite course, by recognizing South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states."

Those words are backed up by American actions: Over the weekend, a U.S. Navy flagship made a port call to the Black Sea city of Poti, Georgia, ostensibly to deliver humanitarian assistance. The arrival of the USS Mount Whitney caught the attention of the new Russian president.

"I wonder how they would like it if we sent humanitarian assistance using our navy to countries of the Caribbean that have suffered from the recent hurricanes," President Medvedev, who took office in May, said.

Mr. Chavez was one of the few world leaders to support Russia's invasion of Georgia. He also has called for a Venezuelan-Russian alliance; in 2006, Venezuela signed a series of defense and commercial agreements with Iran.