The Anglo-Japanese Alliance began as a check on the Franco-Russian combination, so Russian participation reactivates the rivalry underlying the conference. Britain and the United States would reject Russian claims to first-rank parity, while Japan would resist accepting an equal Russian allocation. A fleet capped at Japan's level would still be too small to cover Russia's Baltic, Black Sea, and Far Eastern requirements simultaneously. Russia would have to concentrate virtually everything against Japan or leave the Far East exposed while protecting the rest of the empire, making any national ratio strategically unsatisfactory.
Chapter · 44:55-47:11
Russia breaks the Washington treaty tonnage ratios
Neither parity with Britain and America nor equality with Japan gives Russia a politically acceptable and strategically useful treaty fleet.