Russia, Venezuela to sign 10 agreements during Chavez's visit

MOSCOW, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- Russia and Venezuela plan to sign a package of 10 agreements during President Hugo Chavez's two-day visit to Moscow, a senior Russian official said Wednesday.

Chavez was to meet his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Thursday.

Sergei Prikhodko, Medvedev's foreign policy aide, said the 10 documents to be signed included a deal on the mutual protection of intellectual property rights in military cooperation and one between the two Defense Ministries covering personnel training and military exchanges.

No new arms contracts were to be signed during Chavez's visit but Russia could give Venezuela a loan for Russian weaponry supplies, Prikhodko said.

A memorandum of understanding on long-term cooperation in developing Venezuela's Orinoco oil belt was set to be signed as well.

Chavez recently announced plans to purchase Russian tanks in response to the United States' plans to deploy military bases in neighboring Colombia.

Russia signed 12 arms contracts with Venezuela worth more than 4.4 billion U.S. dollars between 2005 and 2007.