Russia set to pull troops back from Ukraine border
MOSCOW: Russia said it will begin pulling thousands of troops back from areas near the Ukrainian border starting on Friday, in a step that could calm tensions with the West that have surged in recent weeks.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy welcomed the move, saying in a tweet it “reduces tension”.
The military units will return to their bases by May 1, Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu said on Thursday in Crimea, where he’s on a visit to review manoeuvres.
“The goals of these surprise checks were fulfilled completely. The forces showed their ability to reliably defend the country,” he told commanders, announcing the end of the operation. “The military activity of Nato in this region has significantly increased.”
Western officials say Russia moved as many as 100,000 troops, as well as tanks, warplanes and other equipment, to areas near the border with Ukraine in recent weeks, the largest such build-up in years. The US and its European allies called on the Kremlin to pull the forces back, but Moscow said it’s free to deploy its military wherever needed on its territory.
‘Moscow got its message across’
“Moscow thinks that it got its message across,” said Fyodor Lukyanov, head of the Council on Foreign and Defence Policy, which advises the Kremlin. “There’s been some de-escalation and now the confrontation has returned to the political and diplomatic sphere.”
There was no immediate sign the withdrawal would take place as announced and Russia has changed plans in the past. The defence ministry said it would leave the tanks and other equipment of one of the major units in the area near the border ahead of exercises planned for the fall.
Amid the crisis, US President Joe Biden called Vladimir Putin to appeal to the Russian leader to reduce tensions, offering the prospect of a summit meeting.
Russia denied its build-up was a threat to Ukraine, but the Kremlin had charged the government in Kiev with planning an assault on Donbas separatist regions in the east of the country that are backed by Moscow. The Ukrainian government rejected those claims and accused Moscow of planning a military incursion of its own.