CARACAS, March 17 (Xinhuanet) -- Venezuela on Thursday rebuffed the latest US charges of its arms deal, saying Washington is applying double standards to the issue.

    Venezuelan Vice President Jose Rangel told a press conference that the United States has two completely different criteria on arms purchases by Venezuela and Colombia.

    Rangel said his country made the deal as part of a plan to reinforce its border security, rather than for an arms race as claimed by Washington.

    "Colombia has just announced it will buy 22 combat planes. Is this an arms race?" he asked.

    On Monday, the Financial Times quoted Gen. Bantz Craddock, commander-in-chief of the US Southern Command, as indicating that 100,000 Russian-made Kalashnikov rifles to be purchased by Venezuela could end up in the hands of Colombian guerrillas seeking to overthrow President Alvaro Uribe.

    "We are concerned about that and we would like that not to happen," Craddock said.

    Denouncing the argument as an "impressive banality," Rangel said Venezuela is not using the deal against Colombia or any othercountry of the region, rather, "we're replacing equipment."

    Tensions between Venezuela and the United States have been escalating amid exchanges of hostile rhetoric, in which VenezuelanPresident Hugo Chavez accused Washington of planning to assassinate him, while US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called him a "negative force" in Latin America.

    With the western hemisphere's largest proven oil reserves, Venezuela is the world's fifth-largest oil exporter that produces more than 3 million barrels of crude oil a day. It sells 60 percent of its crude oil to the United States. Enditem