Russian scare in Pacific if late 1800s Hi there you might be interested in creating this article In the 1880s 1890s Australian colonies New Zealand armed themselves against what what later called the Russian scares fears of Russia controlling their sealanes and even invading My personal theory is that this fear was built up by British arms suppliers rather than any political facts but you seem in a position to write a balanced article if you re interested we don t hear much from the Russian point of view on this regards Rod