After his claim to the Arctic, Putin plans a warship base in the Med

The day after the Kremlin staked a claim to the North Pole with a daring mission to plant a Russian flag on the Arctic seabed, military chiefs revealed Vladimir Putin's latest plan.

The aim is to "restore the greatness of the Soviet era," experts said.

"The Mediterranean Sea is very important strategically for the Black Sea fleet," head of the navy Admiral Vladimir Masorin said yesterday.

"I propose that, with the involvement of the Northern and Baltic fleets, the Russian Navy should restore its permanent presence there."

Buoyed by huge oil revenues and with President Putin showing increasing assertiveness, Russia has been boosting military spending.

At the same time, it has been using diplomacy to broaden Moscow's sphere of influence, especially in the Middle East, and a Russian force would further this cause.

However, it would mean sharing Mediterranean waters with the US Sixth Fleet - whose home base is in Italy - and this could further exacerbate recent tensions between the two.

Russia's new forcefulness has created friction and prompted some Western policymakers to make comparisons with the Cold War.

Mr Putin has said Russia would target its missiles at sites in Europe if Washington went ahead with a plan to build elements of a missile defence shield in Eastern Europe.

He has also suspended Russia's compliance with an arms control treaty.

During the Cold War, the Soviet navy had a permanent presence on the Mediterranean, using the Syrian port of Tartus as a supply point.

"It has been the dream of our admirals for a long time to restore our naval greatness and keep the task force we had under the Soviet Union," said military expert Pavel Felgenhauer.

Analysts say the Russbeenian navy is only just recovering from the under-funding of the 1990s when many sailors left the accident-prone fleet.

It has not been revealed where the fleet would be based, but the most likely option would be reviving the Tartus base.

"We still maintain a naval station in Syria but that has been mostly standing empty because, after the break-up of the Soviet Union, the naval task force was withdrawn," said Mr Felgenhauer.

He believes Russia has so few ships it would be unlikely to tip the strategic balance in the Mediterranean.

"The surface fleet right now is very small. There have excursions (into the Mediterranean) several times in the 1990s, but I do not think right now we have the naval capability to keep a sizeable force there all the time."

Mr Putin's increased defence spending could see an expansion of the fleet, however.

If Russia does build up a base in Syria, it could anger Israel, which has criticised Moscow for supplying weapons to Damascus.

On Thursday, Russian explorers dived deep below the North Pole in a three-man mini-submarine and planted a national flag on the seabed to stake a claim to the energy riches of the Arctic.

A mechanical arm dropped a speciallymade rust-proof titanium flag on to the Arctic seabed at a depth of 13,980 ft (4,261 metres).

Russia wants to extend the territory it controls in the Arctic right up to the North Pole.

The area is believed to hold vast reserves of untapped oil and natural gas, which is expected to become more accessible as climate change melts the ice.

In June, a Moscow newspaper printed a map of the area Russia is claiming - a triangle five times the size of Britain with twice as much oil as Saudi Arabia.

Observers say the moves to expand in the Arctic and the Mediterranean are typical of President Putin's muscle-flexing as he tries to increase his country's power.

Critics accuse the Kremlin of embarking on a campaign of new colonialism.