Russia says S-300 deliveries to Venezuela pending

ABU-DHABI, February 22 (RIA Novosti)

Deliveries of S-300 missile defense systems to Venezuela have been delayed, but will go ahead, an official at Rosoboronexport, Russia's state-owned arms export monopoly, said on Tuesday. In November, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said that Russia had agreed to lend his country over $4 billion to buy weapons. "There is a contract with Venezuela but it's not yet being implemented," Rosoboronexport special programs director Nikolai Dimidyuk told reporters.  "Venezuela has rescheduled the dates several times, but now we have agreed on a timeframe for the deliveries," he added. Venezuela is one of the biggest buyers of Russian arms.