Chavez due in Russia amid US tensions

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MOSCOW, Sept 25 (AFP): Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was due in Russia on Thursday for talks on military and economic cooperation between Moscow and Caracas amid Cold War-style tensions with Washington.
Chavez was scheduled to meet Prime Minister Vladimir Putin at 1600 GMT in Moscow. He will then travel to the city of Orenburg in southwest Russia to meet President Dmitry Medvedev on Friday, officials said.
Russia's Kommersant daily said the hastily planned visit was part of the run-up to local elections in Venezuela and that the leftist firebrand would use the trip to stress his alliance with Russia against the United States.