MOSCOW (AP) – Russia’s defense minister on Thursday ordered troops to return to their permanent bases after massive exercises in Crimea involving dozens of naval ships, hundreds of warplanes and thousands of troops in a show of strength amid tensions with Ukraine.
After watching the exercises, Russian Defense Minister Shoigu declared the maneuvers and ordered the military to return to the permanent bases of the troops involved in maneuvers in Crimea and western Russia.
“I consider the goals of instant checking of preparation met,” Shoigu said. “The troops have demonstrated their defense capability and I decided to complete the drills in the southern and western military districts.”
Shoigu said troops should return to their bases on May 1, but also ordered to keep heavy weapons deployed in western Russia as part of drills for another massive military exercise in late May. this year.
Shoigu said they should stay at the Pogonovo shooting range in the southwestern Voronezh region. The extensive range is located 160 kilometers east of the border with Ukraine.
The build-up of Russian troops near Ukraine amid growing violations of a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine has raised concerns in the West, which urged the Kremlin to withdraw its forces.
The Russian military has not reported the number of additional troops that have been moved to Crimea and parts of southwestern Russia, near Ukraine, and it was unclear from Shoigu’s statement whether they will now all withdraw.
The United States and NATO have said Russia’s buildup near Ukraine was the largest since 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea and gave its support to separatists in eastern Ukraine.
The Russian Defense Ministry said the maneuvers in Crimea involved more than 60 ships, more than 10,000 troops, about 200 aircraft and about 1,200 military vehicles.
The exercise featured the landing of more than 2,000 paratroopers and 60 military vehicles on Thursday. Fighter jets covered the air operation.
Shoigu flew over a helicopter over the Opuk shooting range in Crimea to monitor the exercise. He later declared the drills over, but ordered the military to be prepared to respond to any “adverse developments” during the NATO Defender Europe 2021 exercise.
Last week, Russia announced it would close large areas of the Black Sea near Crimea to foreign navy ships and state ships until November, a move that sparked Ukrainian protests and raised Western concerns. Russia has also announced restrictions on flights near Crimea this week, arguing that they fully comply with international law.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba warned on Tuesday that Russian accumulation at the border continues and “is expected to reach a combined force of more than 120,000 troops” in about a week and urged the West to strengthen sanctions against Moscow.
Moscow has rejected Ukrainian and Western concerns about the build-up, arguing that it is free to deploy its forces anywhere on Russian territory and accusing them of not threatening anyone. But at the same time, the Kremlin severely warned Ukrainian authorities to try to use force to regain control of the Eastern rebel, where seven years of fighting have killed more than 14,000 people, saying Russia could be forced to intervene. to protect civilians in the region. .
Amid tensions, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a law on Wednesday allowing the convening of reservists for military service without announcing a mobilization. The new law will quickly equip the military with reservists, “significantly increasing their combat effectiveness during military aggression,” Zelenskyy’s office said in a statement.