Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced that the 40,000 troops deployed along the border for a training operation have completed their mission and are being redeployed to their regular postings.
The comment came along with an apparent effort to back reconciliation in neighboring Ukraine, urging eastern protesters to agree to delay Sunday’s referendum in return for an end to Ukraine’s military invasion of their cities. He also gave some support to Ukraine’s May 25 election, provided the whole country is allowed to participate.
None of that seems likely, and Ukraine Interim Premier Arseniy Yatsenyuk condemned Putin’s comments, insisting the military operation against the protesters, who he dubbed “terrorists,” would not be halted. Though it has not been explicitly addressed, it is widely assumed that the protester-dominated east will not be allowed to vote in the elections later this month.
NATO downplayed the reports of a Russian pullback, saying they had not seen any evidence of the troops leaving their positions near the border. Even if they do, the US is still on board for the military offensive against east Ukraine as a “law and order” measure.
Putin playing Master's chess.
Bulldickey!! He caved and abandoned the now discouraged eastern Peoples' Republics. Just ask their leaders. He's legitimized the Kiev coup and given it reason to expect a secure future! The West and its puppet Ukrainians will be voracious at this point, smelling blood and sensing the success of their non-stop demonizations and threats. Putin will only get more of that; more and more and more. There will be a Kiev sponsored election alright and an enforced, oppressive Kiev sovereignty over the East. At this point, the west simply laughs at Putin, and why shouldn't they? Next stop: NATO membership for Ukraine with US troops on the ground and one of imperialist capitalism's finest IMF bailouts.
I think Ukraine's economy will collapse, despite, or maybe because of, the IMF's "loan", none of which improves the lot of ordinary citizens, and even more chaos will ensue.
Militarily going into eastern Ukraine would have been the one thing that would unite the EU/US/NATO and would have resulted in a bog down for Russia and the worst of sanctions.
Putin has adopted a wait and see attitude. Basically letting the Kiev regime stew in its own mess and ultimately collapse.
He could probably give Mr. Spock a good run at three-level chess.
Putin is not playing master chess at all. Putin blinked, pure and simple and I am am disgusted at his weakness. I had hoped that someone would stand up to the terrorist mass murdering junta in Washington. That now seems to have vanished like the fog that disappears when the sun comes up.
The referendum will go ahead anyway, even without the coward Putin! A report follows:
"We have just voted in the People's Council … The date of the referendum was endorsed by 100% The referendum will take place on 11 May," the rebel leader Denis Pushilin said. "There are millions of people who want to cast their votes. Even if we had voted against holding the referendum, it would have happened anyway. Civil war has already begun. The referendum can put a stop to it and start a political process."
The various Peoples' Republics of East Ukraine owe Putin and Russia nothing at this point. They are authentic expressions of a peoples' democracy. And I would expect them to whip the tar out of the fascist hooligans that will be assailing them. I, for one, hope that they vote for an independent region and – at this point- not seek union with Russia even if its offered.
The US excels at winning battles and losing wars. Putin prefers it the other way round.
The Russians are bending over backwards to be reasonablet to avoid giving the Kiev Junta and the US a pretext for blaming them for the unrest, it won't work though.
The US is hell-bent on another cold-war (or worse) in order to drive a wedge between Western Europe and Russia. The Europeans could stop it but would need to grow a spine.
its more Putin keeping its options open , He doesn't need to invade and shouldn't,. thats what DC desperately wants him to do.
Sometimes the smartest move in a game is a strategic retreat … and … a smart player knows that a too confident opponent is always at his most vulnerable.
Putin
“NATO knows not where all our troops are located? Has all of their satellite reconnaissance stopped functioning?
Yanunkovich, the former elected president of Ukraine, should have ordered the Ukraine military back in February to smash the then terrorists like Arseniy Yatsenyuk so that he could have brought law and order to Ukraine. I think Victoria Nuland would be okay with that wouldn't she? Oh, that is right. They are only terrorists when they are protesters opposite of who they support.
Give them rope…
There's no possibility for any Russian leadership to disengage while most of Ukraine remains under western control. The only ones who could really disengage are those who started everything.
Probably the major concern Putin has regards the amount of victims, not necessarily because the lives of Russians are sacrosanct for him but because he can't afford to antagonize those Ukrainians rather favorable to Russia. As long as Kiev is the aggressor and does most of the killing Russia doesn't lose credibility.
The people in Donbas don't move to Kiev to lay siege on the central power. As long they can count in their region on a majority hostile to the Kiev western propped regime, Kiev repression remains toothless and in the long run a de facto secession will come into place.
US/EU should be happy that the way things look now the rather cautious moves from Russia and its supporters in eastern Ukraine could leave in their hands much more of Ukraine than expected. Also, it seems Russia hasn't decided it is time for an all out last stand if it can achieve some of its goals.
It takes two to tango though.
Some of you might take what is happening in Ukraine as a joke, some other might have impieties and some of you might think whatever, or sympathies with the far right, Neo fascism, but what all of you need to understand that the fact of the matter is the rising of Neo fascism in Europe and in USA is not a joke, the rising of jihadists in Middle East is not a joke nor the government NSA and other method in controlling your destiny is not a joke. Wake up America and smell the reality.
Cynical me, but Russia marks the anniversary of the end of WWII on 9 May (it was after midnight in Moscow when the surrender was signed) with a huge military parade and maybe Putin needs the troops for his parade! With Putin, however, seeing is believing and until the troops actually leave, nobody will believe him. That's the corner he's painted himself into.