CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Russia's deputy foreign minister yesterday dismissed US concerns that its sale of assault rifles and helicopters to Venezuela was intended to encourage a regional arms race.

CHAVEZ . a fierce critic of US foreign policy, has rejected US criticism of the helicopter purchase

Serguei Kislyak said the arms sales, including a US$120-million deal signed earlier this month for ten military transport and attack helicopters, were to help the Venezuelan military meet its needs.

"Our cooperation with Venezuela in the military field is related only to the country's needs ... it does not have any destabilising nature," Kislyak said after a meeting with Venezuelan Foreign Minister Ali Rodriguez.

US officials have expressed concerns the weapons could fall into the hands of leftist rebels in neighbouring Colombia or spur an arms race with other Latin American countries.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a fierce critic of US foreign policy, has rejected US criticism of the helicopter purchase and Venezuela's plans to acquire 100,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles from Russia.

"Different spokesmen from the American government are continually making hostile remarks towards Venezuela, saying we are a destabilisation factor, that we affect out neighbours, but we have good relations" with fellow Latin American nations, Rodriguez said in a statement.

While Venezuela sells most of its oil to the United States, relations between Caracas and Washington have been strained due to Chavez's close ties with Cuban President Fidel Castro and his criticism of US-backed free trade agreements in the hemisphere.

Chavez, a self-styled "revolutionary," accuses the Bush administration of conspiring with opposition groups to topple him - claims US officials deny.

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