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Compare the Russian GNP with that of other nations. There is no chance for Russia to threaten anyone. In fact the reverse is true. China is tied for 2nd largest GNP. And they have some border disputes with Russia dating back to the 1800s. Russian nuclear weapons are probably the only thing preventing China from resolving these border disputes in a more aggressive fashion.

The loss of the Russian Central European Empire (Baltic States, Poland, Ukraine, East Germany etc.) during the early 1990s was a tremendous blow to Russian national pride. They are trying to recapture a bit of that pride by proving that they can still project combat power into the Atlantic and Mediterranean. These sort of naval exercises will continue until the old generation of Soviet Union era Russians pass away. The next generation of Russians will forget about the Cold War and worry about getting the economy in order.