Russia has agreed to help Venezuela build its first nuclear power station in a move likely to raise concerns in Washington about increasingly close cooperation between Moscow and Caracas, London's Guardian reports.

President Dmitry Medvedev announced the move at the end of a two-day visit to Moscow by Venezuela's president, Hugo Chávez. The Venezuelan economy is overwhelmingly reliant on oil and Chávez has said he wants nuclear power to diversify energy supply.

Medvedev has implicitly acknowledged the deal is likely to be unpopular with the US but defended Venezuela's right to seek access to peaceful nuclear technology. The station is likely to be built over the next 10-15 years. Its cost has not yet been revealed.

"An agreement has just been signed on co-operation in the atomic sphere. I don't know who will shudder at this," Medvedev told a press conference after his talks with Chávez. "The president [of Venezuela] said there will be countries in which this will provoke different emotions. But I want to say specially that our intentions are absolutely pure and open." Russia wanted Venezuela to have a "full range of energy choices".

Chávez's visit is his ninth to Moscow and the first stop on a 12-day European tour that includes visits to Belarus and, for the first time, Ukraine – now once again within Moscow's sphere of influence.

Read the entire story at guardian.co.uk