On Wednesday, Vladimir Putin gave us new insight into his philosophy.

The Russian president’s forum was somewhat unusual: a meeting with school children in the far eastern city of Vladivostok. Sitting on the Pacific Ocean and home to Russia’s Pacific fleet, Vladivostok is just 36 miles from the Chinese border and 115 miles from the North Korean border. In recent years, Putin has used Vladivostok as a launching pad for aggressive actions against U.S. fishing vessels. This earned some necessary U.S. Navy pushback during the later period of the Trump administration.