Putin reaching out for alliances in Latin America

Russia is seeking to expand traditional ties with leftist Latin American states as part of renewed global-power ambitions, but reactions in Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela have been cautious.

In Venezuela, one of Russia's allies harking back to Soviet times, President Nicolas Maduro left no one in any doubt of his allegiance and support on Crimea while criticizing EU and US sanctions. "They want to surround Russia to weaken it, to crush it, to destroy it," he said in his weekly radio address last Wednesday.

While that is a clear endorsement of Russian President Vladimir Putin's actions in Crimea as well as the usual anti-US and Western rhetoric, Venezuela is less enamored with Russia's plans to extend its naval presence in Latin America by getting access to ports in the region. Foreign Minister Elias Jaua said that having a foreign military base in the country was against the constitution.