Russia sends ships on exercises in U.S. 'backyard'

By Tatyana Ustinova

MOSCOW(Reuters) - Russian warships set sail on Monday for manoeuvres in the Caribbean area calculated to demonstrate to the United States Moscow's return as a global power on the military and political stage.

The exercises, drawing on a strong alliance with Venezuela's anti-American President Hugo Chavez, will be closely watched by Western navies as the first such projection of Russian power close to U.S. shores since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Navy spokesman Igor Dygalo said the nuclear-powered heavy missile cruiser Peter the Great and antisubmarine destroyer Admiral Chabanenko left their base near Murmansk with two support ships for the 15,000 mile passage to Venezuela.

Washington denounced Moscow for its crushing of pro-Western Georgia in a brief conflict last month over two rebel provinces. Russia then expressed anger over the appearance of U.S. warships in the Black Sea region -- which it considers its sphere of influence -- to deliver aid to Georgia.

Russia's cultivation of leftist Chavez and renewed interest in Cuba and ports of call in the Middle East bear unmistakable echoes of the Cold War, when two superpowers vied for influence.

Dygalo declined to comment on media reports that nuclear submarines would participate in the exercises and that the warships would visit Syria, where Russia has signalled an interest in developing bases.

"During the trip the ships will take part in the first joint exercises with the Venezuelan navy aimed at training rescue drills and operations against sea terrorists," Dygalo said of the mission, expected to last several months.

In the years after the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia's once-proud armed forces, deprived of funding, declined rapidly. Ships lacked fuel to put to sea, warplanes were grounded, troops neglected.