RIA Novosti said the announcement was made by Venezuela's anti-imperialist leader Hugo Chavez after ties with Colombia appeared to deteriorate even further, following a controversial decision by its rival neighbor state to sign a deal with Washington allowing the United States broader access to its military bases.

At the time of the agreement's signing in August 2009, Chavez lambasted the deal, calling on Venezuelans to prepare for war.

Those threats, however, sounded, again, over the weekend.

"We are expecting the arrival of the first shipment of tanks [from Russia] which will be sent to Barracas [in the state of Barinas] to reinforce a motorized infantry brigade there," Chavez said in a televised address.

"In addition, attack helicopters arriving from Russia will be deployed along the Colombian border," RIA Novosti quoted the Venezuelan leader as saying.

Much of the new military hardware was secured through a $2.2 billion loan that Chavez clinched from Russia during a visit there last September.

The credit was used to buy 92 T-72 battle tanks, an undisclosed amount of Smerch multiple launch rocket systems and a series of sophisticated anti-rocket systems from Russia.

"With these rockets," Chavez warned at the time, "it is going to be very difficult for them [the United States] to come and bomb us. If that happens, they should know that we will soon have these systems installed, [and] for an enemy that appears on the horizon, there it goes."

In recent years Venezuela has signed more than $4 billion worth of weapons contracts with Russia, including the sale of 24 Sukhoi fighter jets, combat helicopters and at least 100,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles.

Chavez's arms purchase from the likes of Russia and China have spiked defense spending in Latin America, with regional weapons sales leaping from $29 billion to $39.6 billion between 2003 and 2008.

"They outpace all other countries in South America and certainly raise questions as to whether there is going to be an arms race in the region," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has warned.

Moscow, however, sees its ties with Chavez as a means of retaliating against Washington for a U.S. military buildup on Russia's borders and its bid to draw George and Ukraine within the fold of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

In fact, as NATO attempted to send ships into the Black Sea at the height of last year's war between Russia and Georgia, Moscow sent a naval battle group to Venezuela's Caribbean coast to hold joint military maneuvers near U.S. territorial waters.

Russia's Vladimir Putin has since then argued that his country's bid to cement ties with Venezuela made international relations "more democratic."

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