Two of Russia's least-old and least-decrepit warships have set sail on an "excellent adventure," in the words of one expert blogger. The 15-year-old destroyer Admiral Chabanenko and the larger, older cruiser Peter the Great are bound for Venezuela on a mission that Moscow says was planned months before the war with Georgia.
Still, the flotilla is a "concrete deterrent force that any power that tries to interfere in the internal or external affairs of Russia must deal with," according to one enthusiastic Russian reporter.
"Go ahead and squeal, Yankees," said Venezuelan prez Hugo Chavez.
Washington tried hard to look unimpressed. "They found a few ships that can make it that far," mused a State Department spokesman.
(Photo: via me)
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