Venezuela Says It Will Buy Russian Missiles

President Hugo Chávez said Friday night that Venezuela had reached an agreement to buy short-range missiles from Russia, part of a deepening security relationship with Russia as Mr. Chávez chafes at a plan by the United States to increase its military presence in neighboring Colombia.

The missiles, if the deal goes through, would put within firing range locations in Colombia or American military installations on the islands of Aruba or Curaçao in the Netherlands Antilles off Venezuela’s coast, where the United States operates surveillance flights. But Mr. Chávez insisted that the weapons were solely for defensive purposes.

“We are not going to attack anybody,” Mr. Chávez said in a speech from the balcony of the presidential palace after his return from a whirlwind trip to Russia, Iran, Libya, Algeria, Belarus, Turkmenistan, Spain and Italy. “These are just defense tools, because we are going to defend our country from any threat, wherever it may come from.”

Mr. Chávez did not specify the type of Russian-made missiles that Venezuela hoped to buy, but he said that they had a range of about 186 miles. He also did not say how many of the missiles Venezuela would receive, where they would be deployed or how much they would cost.

If he goes ahead with the deal, Mr. Chávez would have to find a way to pay for the missiles while he struggles to meet other obligations. With oil prices dropping sharply from their peak last year, Venezuela owes an estimated $10 billion to $15 billion to a wide variety of foreign companies, including suppliers of basic items like food.

So far this decade, Venezuela has announced plans to buy more than $4 billion in weapons from Russia. Some of these deals have materialized, like the purchase of Sukhoi fighter jets and SA-24 shoulder-fired antiaircraft missiles.

Other deals, like a plan to build a Kalashnikov rifle factory in Venezuela, have faced lengthy delays.

Mr. Chávez has played up Venezuela’s ties with Russia and the country’s expanding weapons arsenal as he has lashed out at a plan by Washington that could raise American troop levels in Colombia, a nation where the United States has already disbursed more than $5 billion in security aid to combat guerrilla insurgencies and the cocaine trade.