Govt not worried about Russian ships

The Russians are coming but the federal 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 as long as the vessels stay in international waters there's nothing to worry about.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott insists Australia has been monitoring the warships for some time and would 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 Myanmar where he was attending the East Asia Summit.

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

Mr Putin is expected to arrive in Brisbane on Friday.

The latest warship manoeuvres come after a highly-anticipated meeting between Mr Abbott and Mr Putin at the APEC summit in Beijing on Tuesday, when the prime minister confronted the president over Russia's involvement in the MH17 disaster.

But Mr Abbott said the exercise was likely planned for months, well before he signalled the confrontation.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop didn't deny the latest deployment was a show of force, describing Russia as a significant country with a significant navy.

But she drew a parallel with similar Australian exercises in international waters of South East Asia and north Asia, querying whether that was a show of force.

"Russia is entitled, as any other country is entitled, to traverse international waters," she said.

Peter Leahy, a former Army chief, described the Russian presence as more than a subtle demonstration of power.

But under international law Russia wasn't doing anything wrong.

"It's more associated with the meeting in Brisbane rather than comments made by the prime minister," said the now-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."

Ukraine says it is readying for fresh combat operations in its war-torn east as NATO backed claims that Moscow has poured columns of military hardware across the border.

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," he said.