MOSCOW, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- Two Russian Tu-160 strategic bombers landed at a military airfield in Venezuela, the Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday.

    "The planes will conduct a number of training flights over neutral waters in the next few days and then return to their base in Russia," the ministry said in a statement.

    The bombers, which landed at Venezuela's Libertador airfield, were accompanied by NATO fighters during their flight to the South American country, ministry spokesman Col. Alexander Drobyshevsky said.

    "All flights by Air Force aircraft have been and are marked by strict conformity to the international rules on the use of air space over neutral waters," Drobyshevsky was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying.

    Russia said this week that it would send a naval task force from the Northern Fleet to Venezuela in November for a joint naval drill. Earlier, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said his country welcomed the Russian Navy and Air Force on its territory.

    Russia resumed strategic bomber patrols over remote areas last year, 15 years after the long-range maneuvers were suspended with the collapse of the Soviet Union.

    Russian strategic bombers have flown over the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, the Black Sea and the Pacific Ocean.