Bolivia will recieve Russian helicopters to fight drug trafficking and farming. The two countries have just closed aid agreements after a round of diplomatic talks, the latest of which was between Presidents Evo Morales and Dmitry Medvedev. This was the first time a Bolivian President has traveled to the Kremlin since the two nations established diplomatic ties in 1945.

Medvedev has also mentioned that Gazprom the Russian gas giant has been in talks with Bolivia about running gas pipelines throughout the region. The proposal will give Bolivian owned YPFB 51% of the stake in future development and Total and Gazprom will each hold 24.5%. The proposed Argentinian section of the pipeline would see the provinces of Formosa, Chaco and Santa Fe supplied with Bolivian gas. This development will allow for further exploitation of Bolivia’s vast petroleum resources and will further drive a wedge in relations between the US and Bolivia. In 2008 Morales banned the US Drug Enforcement Administration from Bolivia, claiming that they were spying and supporting the overthrow of his government.

Bolivia and Russia have also signed a joint declaration in which they state their mutual opposition to US foreign policy and their similar beliefs on global issues. This opposition put a strong emphasis on opposition to the decades old US blockade of Cuba as well as the expansionist movements of NATO and the pushing forward of a US missile defence shield in Eastern Europe.

These agreements have occurred only shortly after the Kremlin has had diplomatic talks with Cuba’s President Raul Castro and Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez. The development of diplomatic ties between these socialist leaders and Russia has signalled a resurgence of Russian influence in South America which was an important strategic fact during the Cold War. It appears that Russia intends to redevelop those ties in the face of an overstretched and economically weakened United States.

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