Moscow ? Amid talks about a billion-dollar arms purchase from Russia, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Tuesday that he wanted the two nations to become strategic partners to ensure “Venezuela’s sovereignty, which is currently being threatened by the United States.”

Chavez’s remarks, reported by the Russian state news wire RIA Novosti, came a day after a Russian newspaper reported that Russia’s military is considering whether its nuclear weapons-capable bombers could land in Cuba.

The rhetoric is the latest notch up in tensions between the United States and Russia, which are embroiled in a dispute over American plans to build a missile-defense shield in the Czech Republic.