Russia expects to sell up to 40 fourth generation diesel submarines by 2015

Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez, arrived in Moscow on Thursday for talks with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, amidst some speculation in the Russian media about a major arms deal between the two countries. The speculation involves the supply of sophisticated Russian air defense systems, such as Tor-M1, or three Amur-class submarines.

Recent reports in Russian daily Kommersant had said that Venezuela had approached Russia with a request to build nine diesel submarines - five of the Project 636 Kilo-class and four of the Project 677 Lada-class (export version-Amur 1650). The Venezuelan defence minister, however, denied these reports.

Meanwhile, Russia could sell up to 40 fourth-generation diesel submarines to foreign customers over the next seven and a half years, the state-run arms exporter, Rosoboronexport, said Wednesday.

Read more