Russia has called back its thousands of troops from Ukraine border saying the soldiers have completed military drills.
Russia today said, “10,000 troops had finished month-long military drills near Ukraine and would be returning to their permanent bases in Russia.”
The this development has surfaced amid accusations from Western countries that Russia is ready to invade Ukraine, though Russians have denied it.
The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that the operations for the Southern Military District forces had taken place across a stream of southern regions, including Rostov, Krasnodar and Crimea, a peninsula Moscow seized from Ukraine in 2014.
The West has accused Russia of amassing some 100,000 troops near its border with Ukraine.
According to media reports, Russia has applied pressure on NATO and the West with a raft of demands, calling for a Russian veto on the admission of future NATO members, with one eye on Ukraine’s possible entry to the military alliance.
The United States, among others, have given the Kremlin’s request short shrift. In addition, Russia has called on NATO to withdraw its multinational battalions from Poland and the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
Importantly, French President Macron and Turkish President Erdogan have held separate meetings with their Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin to defuse war tension.
Meanwhile, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz too has reached Moscow today (Feb 15) to meet President Vladimir Putin to avert war. German Chancellor said he will hammer home the message from the West that they are open to dialogue about Russia’s security concerns but will impose sanctions if it invades Ukraine.
