Russia To Pull Troops Back from Ukraine Border

After weeks of heightened tensions between Kyiv and Moscow over a massive buildup of Russian troops near Ukraine’s border, the heat seems to turn down following the defense ministry’s abrupt decision to return troops back to permanent bases inside the country.

Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced Thursday the completion of the large-scale snap drills in western Russia and Crimea, a peninsula that has served as the “red line” for both countries since 2014. Shoigu ordered troops back to their permanent bases, in a move that is supposed to cool high nerve tension in the region and also with the West.

“I believe that the goals of the sudden inspection have been fully achieved,” Shoigu said, speaking during snap readiness exercises at the Opuk Crimean training ground on Thursday. “The troops demonstrated the ability to provide a reliable defense of the country. In this regard, I have decided to complete the verification activities in the Southern and Western military districts.”

According to the statement issued on Friday, the defense minister set the task for the general staff of the armed forces, military chiefs, and the airborne troops to plan and commence returning to their home bases from the Russian-Ukrainian border and Crimea starting April 23. The troops are expected to return to regular positions by May 1.

Some heavy artillery, however, including powerful rocket artillery and other missiles, will be kept at the Pogonovo training ground near the border with Ukraine until the joint Russian-Belarusian “Zapad-2021” strategic military exercises scheduled to take place in September.

For two weeks, more than 10,000 servicemen, 1,200 units of equipment, as well as 40 warships have been positioned in Crimea, in what Russia said was a part of a snap training exercise.

Meanwhile, western officials are convinced that at least 100,000 servicemen have been positioned along Russia’s border with Ukraine and within Crimea, in addition to its naval forces in the Sea of Azov.

“It is the highest military deployment of the Russian army on the Ukrainian borders ever,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell noted earlier in a press conference.

Russia's military buildup raised alarms across the West, prompting speculations swirls over the possibility of a full-fledged war, as it came on the heels of a sharp escalation in fighting between Ukraine's forces and armed separatists in the country’s eastern regions.

Ukraine and Russia, the two post-Soviet countries, have been at odds since the 2014 crisis in Ukraine’s southern and eastern regions. Ukraine accuses Russia of annexing the Crimean Peninsula – a territory about the size of Maryland that sticks out into the Black Sea – and backing anti-government separatist riots in the country’s eastern regions of Donetsk and Lugansk. The crisis eventually destabilized the Donbas region of Ukraine.

While Kyiv and the West have accused Russia of supporting the separatist regimes in Donetsk and Lugansk with weapons and troops, Moscow has repeatedly denied those claims. Despite a ceasefire that halted full-scale war in 2015, the deadly skirmishes never ceased. The ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine has so far claimed the lives of some 14,000 people and left as many as 40,000 wounded, according to Kyiv’s estimates.