Russia ups military drills amid Ukraine tensions

Russian President Vladimir Putin. File pic/AFP

With tens of thousands of Russian troops positioned near Ukraine, the Kremlin has kept US and its allies guessing about its next moves in the worst security crisis to emerge between Moscow and the West since the Cold War. Amid fears of an imminent attack on Ukraine, Russia has further upped the ante by announcing more military drills in the region. It also has refused to rule out the possibility of military deployments to the Caribbean, and President Vladimir Putin has reached out to leaders opposed to the West.

The military muscle-flexing reflects a bold attempt by the Kremlin to halt decades of NATO expansion after the end of the Cold War. In talks with the United States, Russia demands legally binding guarantees that the alliance will not embrace Ukraine and other former Soviet nations, or place weapons there. It also wants NATO to pull back its forces from countries in Central and Eastern Europe that joined the alliance since the 1990s.

Putin has described NATO membership for Ukraine and the others as well as the alliance's weapons deployments there as a red line for Moscow, warning that he would order unspecified "military-technical measures" if the demands aren't met. Putin pointed to NATO drills with the Ukrainian military, increasingly frequent visits of the alliance warships in the Black Sea and the flights of US bombers near Crimea to emphasise the urgency of Russia's security demands. He argued that by creating training centers in Ukraine, Western powers can establish a military foothold there even without its joining NATO. "We have nowhere to retreat," Putin said. "They have taken it to the point where we simply must tell them: ‘Stop!'"

Ukranian residents brace for the unknown

Residents in Ukraine's second biggest city Kharkiv said they hoped for the best but would prepare for the worst, as Russia massed thousands of troops near Ukraine's borders and diplomatic talks failed to produce a breakthrough.

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