TODAY: Chávez receives warm welcome in Moscow, offers Russia a military base in Venezuela; Sochi residents clash with police; Putin has new United Russia office; Karadzic arrest is “internal matter”, says Russia; McCain weighs in on Czech energy. Dmitry Medvedev is optimistic about the prospects for Russia’s relationship with Venezuela. “Our cooperation is developing well enough and we’ve made a very serious move forwards,” he said. It is thought that Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez would sign a $2bn arms deal with Russia for new missile defence systems and diesel-powered submarines. Chávez also extended a personal invitation to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to visit Caracas, and said that Russia would be “warmly welcomed” if it wanted to deploy a military base in his country. Sochi residents set to lose their houses to Olympic facilities have clashed with police, “armed with sticks and bottles of incendiary mixture”.