Russian warships send summit a message

How Sydney's Daily Telegraph portrayed the Russian presence.

The Russians are coming, but the Australian Government isn't about to panic.

Four Russian warships are exercising in the Coral Sea before this weekend's G20 summit in Brisbane, in a move being interpreted as a show of force by President Vladimir Putin.

But the Australian Government says that as long as the vessels stay in international waters there is nothing to worry about.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott insists Australia has been monitoring the warships for some time and will continue to do so.

"It's not unusual for Russia to deploy naval elements when there are significant international events taking place," he told reporters in Burma, where he was attending the East Asia Summit.

It would be unusual - but not unprecedented - for them to enter Australian waters, Abbott said.

The Russian Navy also deployed to Singapore when the Apec summit was held there and in the Pacific when San Francisco hosted a major summit.

Putin is expected to arrive in Brisbane today.

The latest warship manoeuvres come after a meeting between Abbott and Putin at the Apec summit in Beijing on Tuesday, when the Prime Minister and President discussed Russia's involvement in the MH17 air disaster.

But Abbott, who had vowed to "shirtfront" Putin, said the exercise was probably planned months ago, well before he signalled the confrontation.

Peter Leahy, a former army chief, described the Russian presence as more than a subtle demonstration of power. But under international law Russia was not doing anything wrong.

"It's more associated with the meeting in Brisbane rather than comments made by the Prime Minister," said Leahy, director of the National Security Institute at the University of Canberra.

"I would be more concerned about what's happening over in the Ukraine than what's happening with three or four - including one tugboat - Russian vessels in our area."

Labor leader Bill Shorten said the deployment distracted from Russia's complicity in the MH17 air disaster.

"I don't think we should play the Putin game of engaging in his stunts."

-AAP