Russia’s defense ministry has announced it will withdraw some of its troops from the border with Ukraine. The size of the withdrawal remains unclear and may involve only a fraction of Russia’s forces at the border, which western officials estimate at more than 60% of the country’s ground forces.
This was stated by the official representative of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation Igor Konashenkov in a comment to journalists from the RIA News agency.
According to Konashenkov, the withdrawal of troops is associated with the completion of military exercises, that involved forces from “practically all military districts, fleets, and the airborne forces”.
"Units of the southern and western military districts, which have accomplished their missions, are boarding trains and trucks and will head for their garrisons later today," Konashenkov said.
The defense ministry released a video apparently shot in Crimea of Russian tanks and other heavy weaponry being loaded on to railway cars.
Ukrainian officials said they would not take Moscow at its word about a drawdown. “Many statements are constantly being made from [Russia], so we have a rule: we’ll believe it when we see it,” said Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister. “If we see the withdrawal then we will believe in de-escalation.”
NATO’s Secretary-General, Jens Stoltenberg, said recent comments from Putin on continuing talks offered grounds for “cautious optimism” but there was no sign yet of a withdrawal of troops and equipment from Ukraine’s border.
He said, “So far we have not seen any de-escalation on the ground from the Russian side. Over the last weeks and days, we have seen the opposite.”
He then added, “We believe there is some ground for cautious optimism based on the signals and signs coming from Moscow, that they are ready to engage in a diplomatic effort and we are ready to continue to engage in a diplomatic effort.”
Earlier, Kremlin spokesperson accused the west of manufacturing “manic information madness”.
“We’ve always said the troops will return to their bases after the exercises are over. This is the case this time as well,” Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.