In a single 24-hour period this week, Russia dispatched 19 combat aircraft — including "Bear" strategic bombers — to probe North Atlantic Treaty Organization air defenses. It also test-launched a ballistic missile in the Barents Sea, north of Sweden, that hit a target in Kamchatka in Russia's Far East.
The flurry of activity recalls the bad old days of the Cold War; NATO has had to scramble to intercept Russian jets more than 100 times this year, three times more often than in all of 2013.
So what exactly are Russian President Vladimir Putin and his generals trying to achieve? They aren't saying, but they appear to have multiple goals, all related: