THE Kremlin is aggressively seeking to resurrect its Soviet-era influence in Latin America and marshal an alliance of anti-American nations as it attempts to boost its power on the world stage.

Russian officials believe deepening military, political and economic contacts with countries in Washington's backyard is a fitting riposte to US missile-defence plans in Eastern Europe and what it sees as US meddling in its own backyard - the former Soviet Union.

Moscow is initially targeting four countries: Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia. A high-level Russian government delegation just returned from visiting the nascent alliance, dropping in on every country bar Bolivia. In Cuba's case, it was the second such high-level visit to Havana in as many months.

"We need to re-establish positions on Cuba and in other countries," prime minister Vladimir Putin told a recent session of the National Security Council.

Moscow's overtures are likely to stir memories of the Cold War and analysts say they reflect the Kremlin's desire to take a seat at the top table in what it believes is becoming a multi-polar world where US hegemony is on the wane.

Ties with Venezuela's leftist anti-US president Hugo Chavez are strongest. Moscow has sold weapons worth more than $4 billion to him in the last three years and has said it is hoping to seal military contracts worth a staggering $30bn in the next six years.

Two strategic Tu-160 bombers took part in training exercises there earlier this month, the first time such flights have taken place since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The Russian Navy is also due to participate in war games scheduled for November or December, exercises that will be closely watched by the US Fourth Fleet.

"Russia is with us. We are strategic allies," Chavez told a recent talk show. "It's a message to the empire. Venezuela is no longer poor and alone. Go ahead and squeal Yankees!"

Meanwhile, Russian experts are helping Venezuela build a factory to produce Kalashnikov assault rifles and ammunition.

The region also represents a business opportunity for Russia. Deputy prime minister Igor Sechin said five of Russia's biggest oil companies were considering forming a consortium to collaborate in the region. Energy giant Gazprom is also negotiating to build a pipeline from Venezuela to Argentina and Brazil.

Cuba, now under the more cautious leadership of Raul Castro, is a harder sell for Moscow. In the Soviet era, it benefited from massive aid from the USSR that stationed thousands of troops there and operated a giant spy base at Lourdes.

But when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Cuba was plunged into a deep economic crisis. In 2001, under US and financial pressure, Russia closed the Lourdes spy base, further disappointing the Cubans for whom it was an important source of income.

The Russian media has reported that Moscow is trying to persuade the Cubans to allow it to reclaim some of its by now derelict military facilities. Unnamed sources inside the defence ministry have also said Russia wants to use Cuba as a refuelling base for its strategic bombers. Officially, both claims have been denied though the Kremlin has openly said it is considering helping Cuba build a "space centre".

Recent weeks have also shown that Latin American countries can also be good diplomatic allies. Nicaragua, under the leadership of former Marxist guerrilla Daniel Ortega, is so far the only country bar Russia to recognise the independence of Georgia's two breakaway regions, South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Bolivia, meanwhile, is keen to cultivate economic ties with Moscow as its relations with the US founder. Both Bolivia and Venezuela expelled their respective US ambassadors in recent weeks.