Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the withdrawal of 17,600 combat troops, including special forces units involved in several military drills in the Rostov region, which borders Ukraine.
The order came after a Security Council meeting, which discussed various threats to Russia. The council’s agenda for the Saturday meeting included the worsening relations with Washington and the Obama Administration, the Ebola epidemic in Africa and the possible weaponization of Ebola, the implications of all that and the threat to Russian and Eurasia in the vent of a spread, other issues included the US military’s unusual interests in the disease, and the rise of the the US backed Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria. The ongoing crisis in Ukraine, NATO military buildup in Europe and US nuclear attack submarines in the Arctic region, according to confidential sources with the Defense Ministry at the Kremlin.
The meeting was attended by top Russian leaders, including the speakers of both chambers of the Russian parliament, key ministers and heads of all the security and intelligence agencies. It was followed by a working session between President Vladimir Putin and Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu.
“The minister reported the commander-in-chief that the summer season for military training at the ranges of the Southern military district was over,” Peskov said. “After hearing the report, Putin ordered to start the withdrawal of the troops to their permanent stations. That would be some 17,600 servicemen, who trained over the summer at the ranges of the Rostov region.”
Within hours of that release troops began pulling out.
he Russian armed forces staged a number of military exercises in western Russia, including regions bordering Ukraine in order to test the combat readiness of the force in the event of a surprise US military attack. The largest exercises were held in the Central Military District in June 2014 and were aimed at testing the readiness of some 65,000 combat troops.
Unconfirmed reports suggest that the units involved achieved a high score for there readiness to respond to any NATO or US threat in the region.
The tactical exercises recently carried out by Russia’s armed forces in the Rostov, Belgorod and Kursk regions of the country’s Southern Military District have attracted heightened international attention, with the maneuvers drawing a particularly acute reaction in Kiev.
Source: Russia Beyond the Headlines http://rbth.com/society/2014/03/17/tactical_exercises_by_russian_army_are_no_more_than_war_games_35155.html)
Ukraine’s Acting Minister of Defense Admiral Ihor Tenyukh even went so far as to suggest Moscow of preparing for an military offensive that threatened the entire country. According to Admiral Tenyukh, Russia had allegedly amassed forces consisting of 220,000 troops, 1,800 tanks and more than 400 helicopters for these exercises.
Official Russian source say that number was closer to 150,000 plus combat ready troops, 890 tanks, 113 aircraft, 129 helicopters and 1,515 units of military hardware (ships, artillery ordnance, armored personnel carriers and vehicles) were subsequently mobilized for the maneuvers.
Analysts I talked to privately tell me the
The tension between Russia and the West escalated after the February armed coup in Ukraine. Moscow sees the event as illegal and facilitated by the US and the EU in a bid to weaken the Russian Federation.