The man who stunned the world with his brazen annexation of Crimea in March takes his seat alongside world leaders at the G20 this weekend having drastically ramped up Russian military posturing for months.

President Vladimir Putin has overseen a string of simulation attacks and foreign airspace incurisons in the wake of what he decries as NATO expansionism and US-led regime change in Ukraine.

On Friday, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said he had urged Mr Putin to make Russia  "a superpower for ideas and values instead of trying to recreate the lost glories of tsarism or the old Soviet Union".

But the head of the Russian Federation has shown little sign of backing down from his current strategy.

This week, as Russian warships sailed toward Queensland waters, a new report found Russia's behaviour fuelled "dangerous brinkmanship" at Cold War levels.

"The intensity and gravity of incidents involving Russian and Western militaries and security agencies has visibly increased," the European Leadership Network, a policy group, found.

"These events add up to a highly disturbing picture of violations of national airspace, emergency scrambles, narrowly avoided mid-air collisions, close encounters at sea, simulated attack runs, and other dangerous actions." (See interactive map.)

Here Fairfax Media examines the major incidents, motives and risks.

Major incidents

April 12: An unarmed Russian aircraft makes 12 passes over the US warship the USS Cook, stationed in the Black Sea.

June: Russia simulates an attack on the Danish island of Bornholm as it plays host to 90,000 guests at a political festival. It is regarded as the most aggressive simulation against Denmark since the end of the Cold War.

August 30: Putin tells a youth camp that other countries should realise "it's best not to mess with us". "I want to remind you that Russia is one of the most powerful nuclear nations," he says. "This is a reality, not just words. We are strengthening our nuclear deterrence forces and our armed forces."

September 4: As NATO members meet in Wales, Russia simulates an attack on the US, flying its strategic bombers to within striking distance of New York, Washington, and Chicago.

September 20: Six Russian airplanes, including two fighter jets and two long range bombers, come close to US airspace off the Alaskan coast. Two US F-22 fighter jets scramble to intercept the planes.

October 2: Russian sends a fighter jet to trail a Swedish signals intelligence plane, which photographs the Russian jet 30 metres away.

October 16: Putin says further sanctions against Russia would amount to "blackmail". He warns sanctions could create "discord between large nuclear powers".

October 17: The Swedish military begins scouring the Stockholm archipelago for an underwater vessel, smaller than a conventional submarine, rumoured to be Russian. The search for the "plausible foreign underwater operation" is called off a week later.

November 13: Russia sends its "Leopard" radar unit to an eastern Ukrainian battlefield near Donetsk. The 1RL232, an armoured, weaponised surveillance system with a 40-kilometre range, gives Russian weapons greater accuracy.

The motive

Alexey Muraviev, a Russia analyst from Curtin University, said the country had slowly increased displays of military might over the past six years. Dr Muraviev said these had escalated sharply since the crisis in Ukraine, as Russia sought to prove its strength to both NATO and that body's principal member, the United States.

"It's a show of force," he said. "[It sends the message] Don't toy with us.  We are strong. We have the capability. We are there. What are you going to do at the end of the day?"

Peter Leahy, a former Australian chief of army, said Russia was acting out of anger.

"They've been down for a while, they've got a lot of pressure and they're reacting to that pressure from NATO up against their borders in the area of Europe," Mr Leahy told ABC Radio on Thursday.

"But they're also saying to us, righto, we've got interests in the Pacific. We can pursue them."

The Putin persona

"Putin's agenda is to restore Russian greatness, to rebuild the national pride of its people, to ensure sovereignty and also that he would be remembered as a man who saved and built the nation," Dr Muraviev said.

He said while Mr Putin was fostering relations with China, India, the Middle East and South America, the Russian leader was reinforcing a "mini personality cult" by defying the West.

"He positions himself as the father of the nation."

Could the posturing backfire?

The European Leadership Network's report said Russia's military posturing "could prove catastrophic at worst". It discussed the possibility of unintended escalation if the West does not back down.

But Dr Muraviev said the heightened displays of force could also hurt Russia economically.

"The risk is that Russia will now be seen as an unpredictable partner, a global bully, someone with whom we cannot really develop a normal and robust relationship because there's this change of agenda," he said. "Business doesn't like to have any form of uncertainty."

But Dr Muraviev noted that Russia's "naval diplomacy" in South East Asia gave the country a chance to show off its military technology to potential customers, including Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia.