CARACAS, Monday January 05, 2009 | Update
Economy
Russia announced on Sunday that it will deliver two Ilyushin
IL-96-300 long-range passenger jets to Venezuela similar to
those used by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and those
ordered by Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
"The agreement with Venezuela for two IL-96-300 passenger
jets will be signed late January or early February 2009,"
said Yuri Ostrovski, the deputy general director of Ilyushin
Finance Company, to news agency Interfax, as reported by EFE.
The top Russian official said that a Venezuelan delegation
will visit Moscow at that time to initial the contract and
outline and approve the design of the technical project of
the aircrafts, one of which would be built later this year
and the other in early 2010. The price of the airliners is
between USD 40 and 50 million.
Ostrovski conceded that the design of these aircrafts will
be similar to the two IL-96-300s delivered in 2005 to Cuba,
one of which was a passenger airliner and the second was intended
for use by Fidel Castro. However, Ostrovski did not specify
whether one of the aircrafts would be specially designed for
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.
04:17 PM. Western Hemisphere. "Damned empire; I curse you one thousand times; some day you will be finished off and wrecked. I curse you one thousand times, empire." This is the least that President Hugo Chávez has uttered to refer to the US government. In urging the Bolivarian Armed Forces to prepare for war, he said that a US raid on Venezuela through Colombia would trigger and spread over the region "the 100-year war."