Venezuela is to build Latin America?s first Kalashnikov factory under a deal with Russia that has stoked fears in Washington about the oil-rich country?s arms procurement plans.

The administration of Hugo Ch?vez took delivery at the weekend of 30,000 new Kalashnikov AK-103 assault rifles from Russia, the first batch of a $54m (?42m, ?29m) contract for 100,000 units of the weapon favoured by guerrillas worldwide.

The deal ? which includes ammunition and a licence to build the Kalashnikov factory ? comes as the US seeks to enforce a ban on arms sales to Caracas after it alleged Mr Chavez harboured an ?ideological affinity? with Colombian ?terrorists?.

Mr Ch?vez said Mikhail Kalashnikov, the 86-year-old inventor of the weapon, would visit the site where the factory will be built. But he gave no date for its construction.

Venezuela alleges that the US has covert plans to invade it, and that its arms procurement programme is aimed at modernising its defences. But Pentagon officials, long uncomfortable with what they perceive as Mr Ch?vez?s oil-funded efforts to undermine democracy in the region, are becoming uneasy as Mr Ch?vez?s promises of arms purchases turn to reality.

In an interview with the FT, US Army Brigadier General Frederick Rudesheim, deputy director for western hemisphere politico-military affairs and a member of the joint staff, said Venezuela?s arms acquisitions would ?destabilise? the region.

?When you have that sort of wholesale purchase by a government that is so out of balance with the needs of that government, it can be nothing other than destabilising,? he said. 

Mr Ch?vez insisted at the weekend that the deal posed no threat to its neighbours, such as Colombia, a close US ally. ?Venezuela is not going to threaten anyone,? he said. ?However, no one should be mistaken because we will be ready to do anything to defend our sovereignty.? 

Venezuelan officers say the 100,000 AK-103s will replace the military?s stock of ageing Belgian FAL rifles, which will be stored for use by a growing force of army reservists being trained in guerrilla warfare.

Jos? Vicente Rangel, vice-president, said the deal involved legitimate end-user certificates. ?No dogs of war are involved in the deal.?

The last major acquisition of Kalashnikovs by a Latin American government ? 10,000 AK-47s bought by Peru from Jordan in 1999 ? was diverted by former Peruvian spymaster Vladimiro Montesinos to Colombian rebels. But the US is concerned that the arms could fall into the hands of pro-Ch?vez groups in Venezuela, as well as rebels in Colombia or further afield.

?We know the Venezuelans are also trying to arm their militias, so you?re talking about a lot more people being armed,? Gen Rudesheim said. ?The need for those militias is yet another issue.?

Venezuela is also buying patrol vessels from Spain, at least 15 helicopters from Russia and possibly Sukhoi fighter jets from Moscow.

Mr Ch?vez said it was ?very probable? that the first Sukhois would be seen next month during an air force fly-past on Venezuelan Independence Day.

At the height of the cold war, the Kalashnikov AK-47 model was also manufactured in several former Soviet bloc states in eastern Europe, as well as in China and North Korea.