"It's a warning. Russia is with us ... we are strategic allies. It is a message to the empire. Venezuela is no longer poor and alone," Chavez said during a public event Thursday.

The Venezuelan president had announced Wednesday that two Russian bombers were in Venezuela for "training flights" and that he would be piloting one of the aircraft himself.

"I hope that stings, 'pitiyanquis'," he said, using a derogatory term for Venezuelan opponents who have perceived US sympathies.

"What's more, I'm going to take the controls of one of these monsters," boasted the president, a former paratrooper and left-wing politician who has avowed antagonism towards the United States.

The United States said it would monitor the deployment of the two Russian bombers, which it described as "Cold War era assets," to Venezuela.

"It is something that we will watch very closely, as we have with the movements of other military assets for the stated purpose of this joint exercise," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters in Washington Thursday.

"These are Cold War era assets and I will leave it to the Russians to describe their capabilities and how they might be equipped," he added.

The moves came amid soaring tensions between Russia and the United States, including over the presence of US naval vessels sent close to Russian shores to deliver aid to Georgia.

Chavez also said plans for joint Russian-Venezuelan naval exercises in the region in November were currently being worked out, and said his closeness to the Kremlin would result in a cooperation that would "strengthen the country."

His announcement confirmed an Interfax report in Russia citing the Russian defense ministry saying the bombers would be in Venezuela for training flights over "neutral waters."

Russia said Monday it was dispatching a nuclear cruiser and other warships and planes to the Caribbean for the joint exercises with Venezuela -- the first such maneuvers in the US vicinity since the Cold War.

A spokesman for the Russian navy said Monday that the November maneuvers would take place under an agreement sealed when the leaders of the two countries met in Moscow in July.

Among the Russian ships to take part in the exercises would be the heavy nuclear-powered guided missile cruiser Peter the Great, a vessel with massive firepower whose cruise missiles can deliver nuclear or conventional warheads.

Foreign ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said Monday that the exercises were "not in any way connected to the current situation in the Caucasus," and were "not aimed at any third country."

Analysts said the Russian navy presence in Venezuela was more symbolic than military, though it did nothing assuage fears that Cold War-type tensions were building.

Thomas Gomart of the Paris-based French Institute of International Relations noted that, up to now, Russia had contented itself with selling arms, notably fighter-bombers, to Caracas.

But the announcement of the Caribbean maneuvers seemed to be both an overt challenge to US power and a gesture of support to Chavez's radical policies, he said.

The Tupolev Tu-160 bombers are huge supersonic combat aircraft similar to the US B1 bombers, capable of flying long missions with a heavy payload and of carrying nuclear or conventional bombs and/or cruise and guided missiles.

According to a specialist military website, Globalsecurity.org, there are 14 of the bombers in the Russian air force, after a 2003 crash destroyed one of them.

related report
US to watch Russia's 'Cold-War era' warplanes in Venezuela
The United States said Thursday it will monitor two Russian Tu-160 strategic bombers, which it described as "Cold War era assets," following their deployment to Venezuela.

"It is something that we will watch very closely, as we have with the movements of other military assets for the stated purpose of this joint exercise," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.

Besides the warplanes, Russia also plans to send warships to Venezuela for joint naval exercises in November.

"I would just note, for example, that our military assets in the region of the Black Sea, for example, are there to deliver humanitarian assistance," McCormack said.

"I will leave it to the Russians and the Venezuelans to describe the purpose of their activities," he added.

The United States sent warships to the Black Sea to deliver humanitarian aid to Georgia after Russia launched a military incursion there last month that has inflamed US-Russian tensions.

Asked if he was making a link between events on both continents, McCormack replied: "I am making no linkage whatsoever. I am just pointing out an interesting data point."

McCormack deferred to the Russians when asked if he knew if the Russian bombers were capable of carrying nuclear weapons and whether their presence was troubling or even disturbing.

"These are Cold War era assets and I will leave it to the Russians to describe their capabilities and how they might be equipped," he said.

His remarks fell far short of actually calling the increasingly frosty US-Russian relations a new Cold War.

A spokesman for Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said August 27 he saw no threat of a new Cold War between nuclear rivals over the conflict in US-backed Georgia.

A Russian air force spokesman said Thursday that neither of the two Russian strategic bombers that flew to Venezuela on Wednesday are carrying nuclear weapons.

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