Russian analyst sees anti-US agenda behind Sukhoi sale

Russia's sale of advanced fighter jets to Venezuela is not simply a commercial matter, according to a prominent Russian analyst.

"The sale of warplanes in such important quantities cannot be interpreted as strictly commercial and has political undertones," RIA-Novosti reports, citing Boris Shmelov of Moscow's Center for Comparative Political Studies.

"Latin America is living a series of complicated social processes that have brought the rise of the left, of anti-American orientation, and President Chavez acts as the standard-bearer of these forces who search for weapon alternatives to the US.

"Ultimately, the US is resisting to recognize the interests of Russia in the post-Soviet space," such as the right to sell arms to countries to countries "like Venezuela, that belong traditionally to the zone of American interests in terms of national security," Shmelov says in the report.