Yes, yes, get NATO out of the way so China can form a military "defense" pact with other countries to protect it's interests in the power vacuum
Oh, wait, these are the same people who believe one country invading, and annexing territory from, another isn't imperialism, it is self defense because the west, even when the leader has been publicly discussing reclaiming their empire for decades now. These are the people who ignore how some countries have been claiming ownership of seas, and harassing the independent countries within them, because that is also just self defense, because the west. It can't possibly be them exercising expansionist desires, while claiming it is defense, you know, like how some other countries, of a certain defense pact, do. They certainly won't go full steam ahead once NATO is no longer in these areas, constraining them.
The author's thesis is based on the speech that Putin gave upon assuming office in 1999-08-16, specifically the "zones of interest" phrase. Here it is with a couple paragraphs of context:
Context
The task of our foreign policy is to raise Russia's prestige.
Without that, we will be unable to either protect our citizens or help our exporters.
So we will continue to take the most active part possible in peacekeeping operations and in the major international and regional organizations.
Russia has been a great power for centuries, and remains so.
It has always had and still has legitimate zones of interest abroad in both the former Soviet lands and elsewhere.
We should not drop our guard in this respect, neither should we allow our opinion to be ignored.
Russia has no need to be ashamed of its interests.
IMO, hearing a head-of-state swear to pursue their nation's national interests is pretty banal stuff. Russia was part of an active interstate alliance in 1999.
Has he said anything more "mask off" in the past 26 years?