Venezuela Plan to Buy MIGS Irks U.S.

OTTAWA —  The Bush administration on Tuesday expressed displeasure over Venezuela’s reported plans to purchase sophisticated MIG fighter jets from Russia.

“Let me put it this way: We shoot down MIGs,” a senior administration official said at a White House briefing as President Bush paid an official visit to Canada. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, did not elaborate, and the White House moved quickly to downplay the provocative statement.

Sean McCormack, a National Security Council spokesman, said the official “did not mean that literally.”

The official meant to say that the purchase “would be an issue we would watch closely,” McCormack said.

Venezuela is evaluating MIG-29s as possible replacements for U.S.-made F-16s. President Hugo Chavez said after talks with Russian President Vladimir V. Putin last week that Venezuela planned to buy large amounts of arms from Russia, though he did not mention jets.

The U.S. official said the reported purchase should concern Venezuelans because “millions of dollars are going to be spent ... for ill-defined purposes.”