(CNN)  -- Russia announced Monday it might hold joint military maneuvers with Venezuela in the Caribbean, and the United States said it is scrapping a once ballyhooed deal with Moscow on nuclear technology.



The declarations come in the wake of increased tension between Russia and the United States over Russia's invasion last month of the former Soviet republic of Georgia, a U.S. ally that aspires to join NATO.



Russian ships will make a port of call in Venezuela later this year and the two nations could hold joint naval exercises for the first time, both sides said.



Russia denied there was any link between Monday's announcement and the conflict in the Caucasus, although Russia has criticized U.S. support for Georgia, and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has long antagonized Washington.



"This is a planned event unrelated to the current political situation and Caucasian developments," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said Monday. "The exercises will not be targeted against any third party."



The agreement on the Russian visit to Venezuelan ports was reached long before the conflict in the Caucasus broke out, he said.



But he appeared to suggest Monday that Russia had proposed the joint naval maneuvers.



"If the Venezuelan side finds the proposal interesting and an agreement is reached, Russia and Venezuela may hold joint naval exercises in line with international practice," he said.



Several hours later, U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Washington is canceling the proposed "123 Agreement" with Moscow, which would have cleared the way for more trade of nuclear technology, services and goods between the two countries.



He denied the pullout was directly linked to Moscow's actions in the Caucasus.



"Over a period of time, we've had some deep concerns about Russian behavior. And quite clearly the president has taken this action looking at the facts," he said.



Both countries had accepted the agreement and it was awaiting congressional approval.



Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned in an exclusive interview with CNN last week that Russia would not be pleased at the collapse of the 123 Agreement, which is named after a section of the U.S. Atomic Energy Act of 1954.



"This would effectively kill any possibility for our cooperation to promote the Bush-Putin initiative on nuclear nonproliferation -- which is important for the entire world," he said.



"As I said, it wouldn't be our choice, but if the United States does not want to cooperate with us on one or another issue, we cannot impose ourselves on Washington."



But experts say Congress was unlikely to have given the deal a green light, and that the White House was making the best of a bad situation.



"I think [the administration is] making a virtue out of a necessity" by pulling out, said Russia analyst Jon Wolfsthal of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, last week.



On the possibility of Russian-Venezuelan naval exercises, Latin America expert Wayne S. Smith warned against reading too much into the proposal.



"The Russians have complained about U.S. warships operating in the Black Sea, which is an area of intense interest to them. It would not be surprising if they returned the favor by having joint exercises in the Caribbean," said Smith, a 25-year foreign service veteran who ended his State Department career as chief of the U.S. Interest Section in Havana.



"It's a way of saying: 'Two can play at this game. If you think you can send ships into the Black Sea without response, you are mistaken.' "



But he said the mere fact of Russian ships operating in the Western hemisphere would not necessarily be dangerous.



"The act itself is not. Having naval exercises? Fine, as long as both sides take it for what it is. It's not a threatening gesture, it's a message."



Frank Mora, a Latin America expert at the National Defense University in Washington, said the announcement could be part of a complicated bargaining process, depending on whether relations improve between Moscow and Washington.



"Something tells me that soon enough something will happen
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