Russian is emerging as a new world leader.
Of what exactly?
Their economy is on it's knees. They might be in the right about Syria (might) but the oil price has ruined them.
They aren't the military force people think they are. They have poor human rights records. Would you choose to live in Russia instead of say the UK or Germany?
That is off topic, but let me chime in. Russian economy seems to have adapted to the current oil prices, and besides US won't be able to hold them down for much longer without hurting themselves and their vassals.
Human rights record is far better than in the US (except the Wild 90s, when the situation was dire under the watchful American eye).
Russia never - repeat, never - aspired to be a dominant military force. It's always been on the defence. You'll know when the Russian defensive force will be inadequate - that'll be the day when US invades Russia and starts WWIII. So far, though, the parity of force is maintained.
Being world leader doe not mean having a super military, which scares the world into submission. It means being a fair and diplomatic player in world affairs and trades, and leading by example.
I find the altitude quoted, 11000 meters, to be curious. That's jet cruise altitude. It's not typical of surveillance flights. Also, the aircraft was obviously on a standard route, or the other planes would not have had to have been diverted.
You are right 10000 to 12000 is a typical long-distance corridor altitude.
The surveillance flights would normally hold higher to have more coverage. But given that the airplane was flying with a disable transponder and didn't respond to the ATC calls, it is safe to assume that it was a military flight. As to what purpose it had... Anything from a routine military flight of the type "I fly wherever I want" to a planned provocation (akin to KAL-007 that was shot down off the coast of Japan)