(The Sun) – Russia has sent supersonic bombers capable of carrying nukes to a new military base it is setting up in the Caribbean, it has been claimed. Kremlin plans to establish a base on islands belonging Venezuela were first reported earlier this month amid reports Moscow had struck a deal with the cash-strapped South American nation. Venezuela’s socialist president Nicolas Maduro did not object to the proposals, according to Russian newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta.

The deployment will represent one of the largest postings of the Russian military in the region since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. Under Venezuelan law, military bases cannot be established by foreign nations in the country, but a temporary deployment of warplanes is possible. Maduro and his left-wing administration have an acrimonious relationship with Washington. READ MORE