Chavez Cozies up to Medvedev, Proposes "Strategic Partnership"

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and Russian President Dmitri A. Medvedev stated in a press conference today that their countries would begin to work more closely on issues ranging from oil and gas markets to foreign policy.

While Chavez called for the two nations to become "strategic partners" united against what he labels an American threat to Venezuela, Medvedev, who was meeting Chavez for the first time since succeeding Putin as President, strongly emphasized the strictly business nature of the partnership.

Also, Mr. Medvedev said it was still possible that Russia could join with Venezuela and other gas-producing nations to form a cartel similar to OPEC, a concept that has been under discussion for several years.

Dmitri Trenin, a political analyst at the Carnegie Moscow Center, noted that while Russia sometimes clashes with the West, and is happy to have Mr. Chávez taunt the United States much as Georgia's pro-American government taunts Russia, it is focused on the interests of the state-controlled arms and oil companies that remain global players.