Venezuela signs defense, energy deals with Russia

CARACAS

Venezuela and its most powerful ally Russia have signed agreements on intelligence-gathering and counter-espionage as well as energy cooperation during a visit by a senior Kremlin official to Caracas.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko told Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez that his country stood ready to support Venezuela's armed forces with "the most sophisticated weapons and military equipment.”

The two countries agreed to cooperate on areas including "intelligence and counter-espionage issues," the use of drones and petroleum exploration technology.

Russia is one of the few countries to have recognized socialist strongman Nicolas Maduro's claim to have won a third consecutive term in the July 28 election.

The United States and several Latin American countries have backed opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia as the rightful winner, based on detailed election results published by the opposition.

Venezuelan election authorities aligned with Maduro have yet to release a breakdown of the vote.

Caracas drew closer to Moscow under iconic socialist leader Hugo Chavez, who led the country on a hard-left, anti-US platform from 1999 until his death from cancer in 2013.

Those ties have endured under Chavez's hand-picked successor Maduro, who has defended Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Venezuela has the world's largest proven reserves of oil and once produced more than three million barrels a day of oil — long its only notable earner of foreign currency.

Following years of mismanagement and crushing sanctions, output has dropped to around one million barrels.