"and they denied Chávez a visit to Russia’s grandest warship, Peter the Great, ostensibly because of “choppy waters.”"

you have to be f'n kidding me!!! any navy guys here? they did'nt let him board the cruiser because he'd see them living in a rusted out bucket eating rat meat and going to the bathroom over the fantail....even at the height of soviet naval power those guys had it bad.....i can imagine what the inside of that ship is like now.......Row! Row! Row!........what a joke!