Tensions between Russia and the US could be ramped up further if Vladimir Putin agrees to reopen the old Soviet-era military base in Cuba.

The base in question, near Havana, was opened in 1962, in response to American ballistic missile deployment in Italy and Turkey.

It sparked the Cuban Missile Crisis, considered to be the closest the Cold War came to escalating into full-scale nuclear war.

The base was closed in 2002, but now, two of President Putin's key parliamentary allies are urging him to reopen the unit, just a few hundred miles from the Florida coastline.

Their calls come after the American placing of US missile defence systems close to Russia's borders.

Frants Klintsevich, deputy head of the Russian senate's defence and security committee, is keen to see the return of the base, reports Interfax news agency.

He said: "Our base on Cuba, naval and aviation, should exist. It's a key issue."

Putin in being urged to reopen the facility (
Image:
Getty Images Europe)

His calls were echoed by the committee's chairman, Colonel-General Viktor Bondarev, who was until last month commander of Russian aerospace forces.

He said: "I believe under the condition of increased tension in the world and frank intervention in the internal affairs of other countries - Russia's historical partners - our return to Latin America is not ruled out.

"Of course, this should be coordinated with the Cubans."

Frants Klintsevich (l), deputy head of the Russian senate's defence and security committee, is keen to see the return of the base (
Image:
Pasmi.ru / east2west news)

The base closed 11 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, with Putin claiming it was too costly with Russian switching resources into spy satellites.

Bondarev also called for the reassertion of Kremlin power in Asia, too - namely in Vietnam.

"We should also think about our navy's return to Vietnam with the permission of the government (there)," he said.

Viktor Bondarev (r) believes the reinstatement of the base in Cuba is essential (
Image:
TV Centre / east2west news)

The Cold War base in Vietnam was also axed in 2002.

Last year the Russian defence ministry indicated a return of the military bases in Cuba and Vietnam was being considered.

Hawkish Klintsevich insisted: "Our presence on Cuba is extremely desirable.

"It should definitely be done and it should be intensified today....

The Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest the Cold War came to nuclear war (
Image:
Getty Images North America)

"Our presence should be everywhere.

"I want much more efforts to be made in this regard than is being made now, and I will even insist on that."

In April, a former paratrooper who served for Soviet forces in Afghanistan, blasted former Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon as he said Britain would be wiped off the face of the earth if it deployed a first strike nuclear attack against Russia.

Bondarev wants Russia to reopen its bases in Asia too (
Image:
Polit.ru / east2west news)

The former paratrooper who served for Soviet forces in Afghanistan took exception to Sir Michael's comment that "in the most extreme circumstances,

we have made it very clear that you can't rule out the use of nuclear weapons as a first strike".

He insisted that were Britain to launch a preemptive attack on a hostile nuclear foe then "not having the biggest territory, it is likely to be literally wiped out by the counter strike".

It would be "razed to the ground".