NOVO-OGARYOVO, Russia (AP) – President Vladimir Putin welcomed firebrand Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez for talks at the Russian presidential retreat outside Moscow on Thursday, saying economic affairs and military-technical cooperation were on the agenda.

Amid media speculation that Chavez would sign a major weapons deal while in Russia, Putin said bilateral relations were developing and praised the opening earlier Thursday of a Venezuelan cultural center named for the South American revolutionary hero Simon Bolivar.

“We still have ahead of us talks on economic affairs and military-technical ties. So I’m glad to see you,” Putin told Chavez at Novo-Ogaryovo, on Moscow’s outskirts, before an informal dinner.

Chavez thanked Putin for his hospitality, calling him “brother” at one point.

He said he spoke with Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, during the cultural center’s opening, about “the leading trends in history, about the need to return geopolitical ideas” – echoing earlier remarks in which he said Russians should revive the ideas of Soviet Union founder Vladimir Lenin.

The rhetoric was vintage Chavez – aimed at portraying Venezuela as a bastion of defiance of the United States. Chavez emphasized Venezuela’s solidarity with the Kremlin leadership, which frequently complains of Washington’s alleged dominance of global affairs.

“We must defeat imperial hegemony that is imposed on us or we head toward barbarism; we either defeat imperialism or imperialism destroys the world,” Chavez said. “The empire must understand that it cannot dominate the world.”

Putin kept his remarks to the point and did not echo Chavez’s rhetoric.

Meanwhile, the Duma, the lower house of parliament, unexpectedly denied Chavez permission to address a plenary session. The move was widely seen as a Kremlin attempt to keep a leash on the unpredictable Venezuelan in the days ahead of a summit between Putin and President Bush, who meet Sunday and Monday in Maine amid fraying U.S.-Russian relations.

There was also much speculation that a major weapons deal was imminent.

Chavez has expressed interest in purchasing Russian submarines, which could add to U.S. concerns about Venezuela’s military spending. Caracas already has purchased some $3 billion worth of arms from Russia, including 53 military helicopters and 24 SU-30 Sukhoi fighter jets.

The newspaper Kommersant has reported that Chavez was expected to sign an initial contract that would include five Project 636 Kilo-class diesel submarines, and possibly four other submarines later. The Venezuelan defense minister denied the report.

The Interfax news agency, citing an unnamed Russian defense industry official, said Chavez may sign contracts for Russian air defense systems or three Amur-class submarines.

Chavez is to travel Friday to Belarus for meetings and possible talks about an air defense system equipped with radar and anti-aircraft missiles. The former paratrooper commander said this week that Venezuela’s current short-range system was insufficient.

AP-ES-06-28-07 1940EDT

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