Putin Orders Military Exercises Near Ukraine

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putin claims victoryRussian President Vladimir V. Putin ordered a surprise military exercise of ground forces in western Russia and air forces across the country on Wednesday, intending to demonstrate the country’s military preparedness amid tensions with Europe and the United States over the turmoil in Ukraine.

Russia’s military put scores of units on alert at 2 p.m. local time for an exercise that is scheduled to last until March 3, the minister of defense, Sergei K. Shoigu, announced, according to news agencies. Mr. Shoigu’s statement cited the need to test the readiness of the armed forces to respond to a “crisis situation,” including a terrorist attack involving biological or chemical weapons.

Neither Mr. Shoigu nor the Kremlin mentioned the events in Ukraine, which officials here have watched with growing alarm, but the geopolitical message of the snap drill was unmistakable.

Russia has refused so far to recognize the legitimacy of the new political powers in Ukraine’s Parliament following the flight of President Viktor F. Yanukovych last weekend, and officials have denounced the actions of opposition leaders now in control.

Two days ago, Prime Minister Dmitri A. Medvedev said the turmoil posed “a real threat to our interests and to our citizens’ lives and health.”

ukraine map - ethnicIn Crimea, historically a part of Russian territory until the Soviet Union ceded it to the Soviet Social Republic of Ukraine in 1954, ethnic Russians have appealed for the Kremlin’s intervention to protect the region and its population from Ukraine’s opposition leaders.

“I think it is flag waving, but it’s more than that also,” Dmitri Trenin, the director of the Moscow Carnegie Center, said after the announcement of the exercise. “It’s a message to Kiev not to impose its rule in Crimea by force.”

Russia’s Western Military District – one of four across the country – stretches along the border of northeastern Ukraine and includes the 6th and 20th Armies, with tens of thousands of soldiers. The exercise will also involve the 2nd Army in the Central Military District, as well as airborne, aerospace and military transport commands.

NY Times

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12 responses to “Putin Orders Military Exercises Near Ukraine”

  1. nagy_michael2 Avatar
    nagy_michael2

    Well Putin you’re going to have another Chechen rebels knocking on your door. what a thug he is..

  2. nagy_michael2 Avatar
    nagy_michael2

    Well Putin you’re going to have another Chechen rebels knocking on your door. what a thug he is..

  3. 5thDrawer Avatar

    The ‘Ethnicity’ problems boil again in countries which never felt ‘together’ under a form of dictatorship generally forced on them long ago. When ‘the people’ don’t see things working for THEM with any equality in a ‘system’, they can’t be happy. The ‘old states’ have different allegiances.
    Russia too has it’s ‘demonstrators’ these days … and they can’t blame it all on ‘Gays’ like Uganda is.

    1. Hind Abyad Avatar

      Some residents of Kiev prefere this flag,

      1. Leborigine Avatar

        ….and some residents in syria prefer this flag!

        1. Leborigine Avatar

          or this flag????

          1. Hind Abyad Avatar

            I don’t know these flags they are not Syrian.
            The 1943 battle of Kharkov was the last Russia victory against the Greman Nazi in Ukraine.

        2. Leborigine Avatar

          or this flag????

  4. 5thDrawer Avatar

    The ‘Ethnicity’ problems boil again in countries which never felt ‘together’ under a form of dictatorship generally forced on them long ago. When ‘the people’ don’t see things working for THEM with any equality in a ‘system’, they can’t be happy. The ‘old states’ have different allegiances.
    Russia too has it’s ‘demonstrators’ these days … and they can’t blame it all on ‘Gays’ like Uganda is.

  5. Reasonableman Avatar
    Reasonableman

    Some more external influence perhaps? Perhaps who ever doesn’t agree with american politics faces this problem in their land?
    as the brits would say, perhaps you would like tea with your crumpet?

    1. 5thDrawer Avatar

      You know where ‘influence’ comes from … TV and Internet and Olympics. People can’t help but notice eventually, some places are not similar. 😉

      1. Reasonableman Avatar
        Reasonableman

        The propergander machines on flatstick & stop winking at me lol. The msg was loud and clear

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