On Tuesday, the U.S. Navy deployed a warship through waters just off Russia’s Pacific coast. There’s a lot more going on here than a simple naval transit, however.

The Navy noted that the USS John S. McCain Arleigh-Burke class destroyer conducted a freedom of navigation operation in waters that Russia claims as the Peter the Great Gulf. And the 7th Fleet issued an unusually stern message, “The United States,” it said, “will never bow in intimidation or be coerced into accepting illegitimate maritime claims, such as those made by the Russian Federation.”