WEBVTT 00:01.966 --> 00:05.200 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% JUDY WOODRUFF: Now, all this week in the vast expanse of Siberia, Russian military forces 00:06.566 --> 00:09.433 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% have been conducting the largest war games in a generation. 00:09.433 --> 00:14.433 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% As Nick Schifrin reports, the exercises are as much about projecting power as demonstrating 00:15.066 --> 00:17.166 align:left position:40%,start line:89% size:50% it. 00:17.166 --> 00:20.833 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% NICK SCHIFRIN: In Russia's far east, the troops are on parade and the tanks extend as far 00:20.833 --> 00:23.433 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% as the eye can see. 00:23.433 --> 00:28.000 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Not since the Soviet era has the Russian military showed off this much weaponry and tried to 00:28.000 --> 00:32.433 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% convince the world not only the Russians are coming, but they have already arrived, with 00:32.433 --> 00:35.266 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% sound and fury. 00:35.266 --> 00:40.233 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Short-range ballistic missiles fired at a hypothetical enemy, an all-out assault from 00:42.233 --> 00:45.666 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% the ground and air simulating conventional war, soldiers rappelling from helicopters, 00:46.866 --> 00:49.500 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% as if they were launching an invasion. 00:49.500 --> 00:54.466 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% The Russian Navy flooded the Bering Sea that separates Russia from Alaska, and ships launch 00:55.900 --> 00:59.466 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% cruise missiles at hypothetical enemy boats. 00:59.466 --> 01:04.433 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% All hailed as proof a military that, 15 years ago, was depleted and demoralized can now 01:06.266 --> 01:09.400 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% mobilize what the Russians claim is their largest exercise since the Cold War, said 01:09.400 --> 01:11.366 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% Russian President Vladimir Putin. 01:11.366 --> 01:14.500 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% VLADIMIR PUTIN, Russian President (through translator): Our duty to the homeland is to 01:14.500 --> 01:18.500 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% be ready to defend the sovereignty, the security and the national interests of our country. 01:18.500 --> 01:21.766 align:left position:20%,start line:71% size:70% MICHAEL KOFMAN, Center for Naval Analyses: They sound very impressive to a domestic audience, 01:21.766 --> 01:25.800 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% because they make it seem like, well, Russia is a great power that in many ways has been 01:25.800 --> 01:29.266 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% restored in terms of military capability. 01:29.266 --> 01:31.733 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% And they also sound very impressive to foreign audiences, right? 01:31.733 --> 01:35.366 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% NICK SCHIFRIN: Michael Kofman is a senior research scientist at the Center for Naval 01:35.366 --> 01:37.400 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% Analyses. 01:37.400 --> 01:40.900 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% He says the exercise isn't only to improve Russian deployment and coordination. 01:40.900 --> 01:45.033 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% It's also about increasing what he calls coercive diplomacy against other countries. 01:45.033 --> 01:49.900 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% MICHAEL KOFMAN: If you want to push people around leveraging the military power that 01:49.900 --> 01:53.966 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% you have, the threat of force, but that's where the force has to be seen. 01:53.966 --> 01:54.966 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% People have to believe it. 01:54.966 --> 01:57.066 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% It's got to be made credible. 01:57.066 --> 02:00.700 align:left position:20%,start line:71% size:70% And, of course, the bigger, more exaggerated it seems, potentially, the better your course 02:00.700 --> 02:02.666 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% of diplomacy. 02:02.666 --> 02:05.400 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% NICK SCHIFRIN: And the diplomacy of this exercise is all about China. 02:05.400 --> 02:10.400 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Those are Chinese troops and Chinese helicopters integrated into a simulated Russian attack. 02:12.333 --> 02:15.733 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% The two militaries have worked together before, but never this high-profile. 02:15.733 --> 02:18.100 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% And never before has a Chinese president participated. 02:18.100 --> 02:23.100 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% At a nearby economic forum, Xi Jinping and Putin showed off their relationship and cooking 02:23.700 --> 02:25.600 align:left position:40%,start line:89% size:50% skills. 02:25.600 --> 02:29.700 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% They made Russian pancakes with a healthy dollop of caviar, washed down with vodka. 02:32.466 --> 02:34.366 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% Xi rarely conducts public diplomacy. 02:34.366 --> 02:38.166 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% And, watching themselves, the two were at times self-conscious. 02:38.166 --> 02:43.100 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% But at a moment when the U.S. is talking about great power competition, China tied itself 02:43.100 --> 02:45.400 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% to Russia. 02:45.400 --> 02:47.966 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% XI JINPING, Chinese President (through translator): We will continue to make joint efforts to 02:47.966 --> 02:52.266 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% consolidate our traditional friendship, enhance our comprehensive cooperation, and push the 02:52.266 --> 02:54.900 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% China-Russia relationship up to a new height. 02:54.900 --> 02:58.533 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% MICHAEL KOFMAN: The two are increasingly demonstrating something very important. 02:58.533 --> 03:01.800 align:left position:20%,start line:71% size:70% They don't see each other as a threat, but they are responding to a shared about that 03:01.800 --> 03:03.900 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% they perceive in the United States. 03:03.900 --> 03:07.800 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% And it's important to understand that alliances between classical powers, great powers, they're 03:09.700 --> 03:13.166 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% not made out of love, affection or trust, or even -- or even mutual appearances making 03:13.766 --> 03:14.966 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% pancakes. 03:14.966 --> 03:16.433 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% They're made in response to a larger threat. 03:16.433 --> 03:20.666 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% And that larger threat is very clearly the United States. 03:20.666 --> 03:25.666 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% NICK SCHIFRIN: The West considers Russia increasingly hostile, the 2014 annexation of Crimea, ongoing 03:28.766 --> 03:33.433 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% battles by Russian-backed separatists in Eastern Ukraine, and the Russian military intervention 03:33.433 --> 03:38.100 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% in Syria that saved President Bashar al-Assad. 03:38.100 --> 03:42.366 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% In response, the U.S. has deployed more troops to Europe than at any time since the Cold 03:42.366 --> 03:44.233 align:left position:40%,start line:89% size:50% War. 03:44.233 --> 03:47.300 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Just this week, NATO jets practiced intercepting Russian jets. 03:47.300 --> 03:52.300 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% It's a sign that NATO is more united against Russia, NATO's secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg, 03:53.033 --> 03:55.533 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% said today in Washington 03:55.533 --> 03:57.766 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% JENS STOLTENBERG, NATO Secretary-General: Because we see a more assertive Russia investing 03:57.766 --> 04:02.733 align:left position:20%,start line:71% size:70% in modern capabilities, that's the reason why NATO has implemented the biggest reinforcement 04:03.966 --> 04:06.100 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% of our collective defense. 04:06.100 --> 04:09.800 align:left position:20%,start line:71% size:70% NICK SCHIFRIN: Analysts believe Russia doesn't want confrontation with the West, but it wants 04:09.800 --> 04:14.700 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% the world to believe that it can exert force and frighten, with a little help from their 04:14.700 --> 04:15.866 align:left position:40%,start line:89% size:50% friends. 04:15.866 --> 04:17.666 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Nick Schifrin.