Russia's New Maritime Doctrine Scares the Living Daylight Out of NATO?

The document, reflecting Russia's growing maritime power, "is clearly focused at NATO. It claims to be a response to NATO's actions right up at its borders," a senior fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) asserted.

What the former Royal Navy officer might perceive as Russia's hidden concerns regarding NATO has actually a solid foundation. For instance, the United States has allocated almost $1 billion for the European Reassurance Initiative (ERI) to boost its military presence, intensify war-games and increase rotational presence of US forces in Europe using a non-existent Russian threat as a pretext.

The ERI is the backbone of the Operation Atlantic Resolve, a US launched program started approximately a year ago to ensure its European allies especially in Eastern Europe and the Baltic that Washington is committed to protecting them from Russia, although Moscow does not pose a threat to any country in the world and there are no reasons to think otherwise.

Russia's new naval code, approved by Vladimir Putin on Sunday, outlines four functional and six regional areas, comprising the Atlantic and the Arctic (named as key regions), as well as the Pacific, the Caspian Sea, the Indian Ocean and Antarctica.

"I think one of the most interesting things about the new Russian naval doctrine is its huge expanse. It's an enormous amount of ground that the Russian Navy now expects to cover," Roberts told Sky News.