Vladimir Putin used a visit to the missile cruiser Varyag for a message that was not addressed to the crew. Watching the closing phase of the Russian Pacific Fleet's exercises, he said the potential for collision in the Pacific is growing.

„We see that, unfortunately, the potential for conflict here is growing. NATO is infiltrating here, new military-political blocs are being created, and new weapons systems are being deployed or planned that pose a threat to our country too”, the Russian president said.

The formulation is familiar. The same argument, with the place names swapped out, has been coming from Moscow since 2014: somebody else is moving closer, Russia is only reacting. The difference is that this time the stage is the Pacific, not Europe.

The exercises began on 4 August and cover the defence of maritime borders, island zones and coastal areas of the Russian Far East. In the waters of the Sea of Japan, the Sea of Okhotsk and the northwest Pacific, around 60 ships, submarines and support vessels, 30 aircraft, helicopters and drones, and more than 13,000 troops are taking part.

Thirteen thousand troops on an exercise explained as defensive. The figure alone says which direction the region is moving in.

Japan, mentioned in a particular tone

The most interesting part of the statement concerned Tokyo. Putin stressed that Russia is not threatening Japan and has no territorial or other claims, then immediately added that Japan, for the first time in its latest military doctrine documents, has named Russia as one of the main sources of threat.

„I would like to underline that we are not threatening Japan. We have absolutely no complaints”, he said.

The sentence „we have no territorial claims” spoken in the context of Moscow-Tokyo relations carries its own weight, since the dispute over the Kuril Islands has run since 1945 and is the reason the two countries still have no signed peace treaty from the Second World War.

Putin also warned that Moscow notes attempts by authorities in individual countries to restrict the movement of Russian ships, and that Russia will respond in kind to any attempt to seize its merchant vessels, regardless of which waters it happens in.

At the end came the offer: Russia is ready to cooperate in the Arctic, including on use of the Northern Sea Route, in accordance with international maritime law. Invoking international law in the same speech that announces retaliation regardless of whose waters is a contrast worth noting.

The Balkans knows this rhetorical form by heart. First you explain that you have no intentions, then you count the ships. The only difference is how far away the sea is.