Putin ends Army drills near Ukraine border
Moscow, May 19: Russia said Monday it had ordered the end of military exercises near its border with Ukraine, just days ahead of a crucial presidential vote aimed at bringing the country out of crisis.
In a move that could ease tensions, President Vladimir Putin’s office said he had ordered thousands of Russian troops deployed in border regions to return to barracks after the end of spring exercises.
In Brussels, however, a Nato military officer said the military alliance had seen no sign of the Russian troops returning to their bases.
“We haven't seen any movement to validate ( the report),” the officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said.
But the Kremlin said Mr Putin had also demanded that Ukraine’s pro- Western government halt its military operation against rebels in the country’s east and withdraw its troops.
His remarks came amid continued fighting in eastern Ukraine, with at least one soldier reported killed in a pre- dawn attack near the flashpoint rebel town of Slavyansk.
“Due to the end of the planned spring training of troops that included their movement to Rostov, Belgorod, and Bryansk regions, the Russian president ordered... Troops participating in the drills to return to their permanent bases,” the Kremlin said in a statement after a meeting of the country’s security council.
The statement also called for an “immediate end” to the offensive by Ukrainian troops in the east — describing it as a “punitive operation” against the separatists — and their withdrawal.
The presence of the Russian troops near the border had raised deep concerns after Russia’s annexation of Crimea in March and the uprising by wellarmed pro- Moscow rebels in Ukraine’s eastern coal and steel heartland.
An estimated 40,000 Russian soldiers had been deployed, but Mr Putin said earlier in May that they had been moved away from the border to regional bases to continue planned training exercises.
At the time both Washington and Nato said they had seen no evidence of the withdrawal.
Under pressure from US and European Union sanctions, Moscow has recently moved to reduce tensions with Ukraine after months of crisis that sent relations with the West to their lowest point since the Cold War.