MOSCOW: A Russian warship will visit a former US naval base in Panama, a navy spokesman said on Wednesday, continuing a show of might in the Caribbean widely seen as a challenge to the United States.

“From Dec 5 to 10 the large anti-submarine ship Admiral Chabanenko will make a port call at the Rodman Naval Base (port of Balboa) in the Republic of Panama,” Russian navy spokesman Igor Dygalo said in a statement.

Located at the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal, the Rodman Naval Base hosted US military personnel until 1999 when it was given to Panama as part of the handover of the Panama Canal Zone.

The Admiral Chabanenko was part of a flotilla of Russian warships, based in the Arctic port of Murmansk, that participated in joint exercises with the Venezuelan Navy which concluded on Tuesday.

The arrival of the Russian ships at the invitation of Venezuela’s fiercely anti-US president Hugo Chavez was seen as a challenge to US influence in Latin America, even though Moscow denied the exercises were aimed at any “third countries.” Moscow announced the exercises after US President George Bush sent navy vessels to Georgia during the Russian-Georgian conflict in August, angering the Kremlin. Washington said the warships were delivering humanitarian aid.—AFP