Maybe it is because the west’s great global bogeyman has been pretty quiet recently that his state of the nation address this week seemed to come somewhat out of the blue.

Vladimir Putin’s apparent reticence over the winter could, of course, simply reflect the all-consuming preoccupation with Brexit in the UK, and the extent to which other countries – France with its gilets jaunes, “new” Europe with its constitutional quarrels, Donald Trump with his wall and a new congress – have been otherwise engaged.