Ukraine update - 05/19/2014

The West will hate this. They want Putin to take the bate and invade.

Putin orders Russian troop withdrawal from Ukrainian border

Russian president tells forces on 'training exercises' near border to return to their home bases

the Guardian,

19 May, 2014

Vladimir Putin has ordered Russian forces on the border with Ukraine back to their bases, the Kremlin has announced. It is the third announcement of a Russian troop withdrawal since the buildup on the border started in March, and experts said this time it might actually happen.

Previous withdrawal announcements have not been borne out by developments on the ground, Nato has said. On 28 April Russia's defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, told his US counterpart, Chuck Hagel, that Russian forces had returned to their places of permanent deployment, and on 7 May Putin said Russia had pulled back from the border.

Nato said after both instances it had not seen evidence of a pullback, and last week the US government published satellite photos that it said showed Russian forces still massed near the Ukrainian border.

On Monday the Kremlin said in a statement on its website that it was pulling back forces from three regions along the Ukrainian border. "In connection with the completion of the routine springtime training phase for troops that involved their deployment to training grounds in the Rostov, Belgorod and Bryansk regions, among others, the president of Russia gave the command to the defence minister to return the troops taking part in the exercises to their home bases," the Kremlin said.

A Nato officer reportedly said on Monday that it had seen no sign of troop movements. However, Russian defence experts said troops would need at least 24 hours to begin moving. The fact that Russia's national security council held a special meeting with Putin on Monday also lent weight to the announcement.

"This time it could be actually be true because it's time to withdraw, it's time to demobilise the soldiers, it's time to step down," said Pavel Felgenhauer, a defence analyst and columnist at the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta.

According to Felgenhauer, the decision is mainly based on the need to send home the one-year conscripts that form the backbone of the Russian army and focus energies on drawing up this year's class. Ultimately, he said, Putin decided against invading eastern Ukraine due to the risks involved and because the situation of the Kiev government was already tenuous.

"You had to make a decision to go or not to go, and threats of western sanctions were a significant factor," Felgenhauer said.

Anton Lavrov, an independent analyst who monitors troop movements, said he had not yet seen any troops withdrawing but the test would come on Tuesday. "If they actually go back to home base this will be a big de-escalation because these bases are all far from Ukraine," he said.

The US satellite photos showed Russian troops at bases 50 miles from the border. Russian forces had been deployed almost to the border itself after the start of Kiev's "anti-terrorist operation" against pro-Russia rebels in late April, Felgenhauer and Lavrov said, but soon pulled back to the training grounds slightly further away.

Despite Moscow's statements that troops had been withdrawn to their home bases, only a few units have returned to their place of permanent deployment, the analysts said.

The Kremlin statement said Putin welcomed the "first contacts between Kiev and supporters of federalisation". Moscow has pushed to have pro-Russia rebels included in national unity talks, but Ukrainian leaders say they will not negotiate with "terrorists". The Ukrainian prime minister, Arseny Yatseniuk, said on Saturday he would offer amnesty to any rebels who had not committed grave crimes.

Putin orders troops back to bases after drills in regions bordering Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu to send troops back to bases from drills they were having in the southwestern regions of Rostov, Belgorod and Bryansk, on the border with Ukraine.

RT,

19 May, 2014

“As the planned spring stage of the drills, which included redeployment of the troops to training areas in Rostov, Belgorod and Bryansk regions, has come to an end, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu to send troops back to their permanent bases and to go on with their military exercises at training areas nearby,” the Kremlin’s press service said.

In the same statement, Moscow called on Kiev to cease violence in southeastern Ukraine, immediately.

“Russia calls for the immediate cancellation of the punitive operation and violent actions, on troop withdrawal and finding a peaceful solution to all the problems,” the statement reads, adding that President Putin would welcome meetings between the government in Kiev and supporters of federalization.

Sporadic military clashes between Ukrainian troops and self-defense forces have been reportedthroughout the weekend in the towns of Slavyansk and Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region – two hotspots of the ongoing military operation conducted by Kiev to suppress anti-government forces there.

“The gunfire is a fabric of daily life now in Slavyansk, but this is the heaviest fighting I’ve heard in Slavyansk since I got here over a month ago,” said freelance journalist Graham Phillips, who is reporting for RT from southeastern Ukraine.

Ukraine’s Donetsk and Lugansk regions held referendums on May 11, where the majority of voters supported self-rule. Now the breakaway regions are rejecting the idea of participating in the Ukrainian presidential elections on May 25.

On Sunday, two Russian LifeNews journalists were detained near the town of Kramatorsk, presumably by the Ukrainian military.

News Media Holding, which owns LifeNews, has appealed to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, asking him to help with the release of the journalists. Moscow has condemned the detention and asked the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) for assistance in releasing the journalists.

Russian journalists detained by Kiev forces, knelt at gunpoint

Ukraine authorities have accused two Russian TV journalists detained in the country of aiding terrorists. Two men were captured by pro-government forces while filming in the restive east.

FULL STORY: http://on.rt.com/xq7myv