Amid the hype around a potential Russian invasion, Moscow announced Tuesday that it is withdrawing troops from areas near Ukraine as military drills in the region conclude.
Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for Russia’s Defense Ministry, said troops in Russia’s southern and western military districts have concluded drills and “have already begun loading onto rail and road transport and will begin moving to their military garrisons today.”
Russia’s Tass news agency reported that troops are leaving Crimea after scheduled drills, and some are returning to permanent bases in Dagestan and North Ossetia. Konashenkov also said that the Russian troops currently drilling in Belarus would be returning to their bases once the exercises conclude on February 20th, something Russian military leaders have made clear since the deployment started.
US and Ukrainian officials reacted skeptically to the Russian announcement. “If a real withdrawal follows these statements, we will believe in the beginning of a real de-escalation,” said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. Julianne Smith, President Biden’s ambassador to NATO, said the US would have to “verify” that the Russian troops were leaving the region.
The Russian announcement shows just how far off US government statements and Western media reports have been about the situation around Ukraine. On Monday, CBS cited an unnamed US official who said Russian troops were moving into “attack positions.”
The US has been claiming Russia is preparing to invade since November. Moscow has repeatedly denied the accusation, and even Ukrainian officials have been downplaying the threat.
The US will now claim that the threat of “severe sanctions” forced Putin to cancel the “invasion.” However, they will delay doing so because that means none of their agendas will be served if they admit the “invasion” hysteria was never real. France and Germany will continue to negotiate with Russia, the Ukraine situation remains unchanged, and Nordstream 2 remains on track, all of which this was intended to fix for the US and NATO and especially the neocons. Even if it was just to fix Biden’s sagging poll numbers, even that will be unaffected by this news.
So in other words, it isn’t over. But a lot of Pollyannas will claim it is just because Russia proved it was a hoax.
Another outstanding article by Bernhard, putting the pieces together on how this entire hoax was created, based on a Washington Post article.
The Big White House Plans Behind Its ‘Russian Invasion’ Scam
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/02/the-big-white-house-plans-behind-its-russian-invasion-scam.html#more
Among other things, what this proves is that Biden was indeed in on the plan fro the get-go and approved it. So no more talk about “Biden wants to negotiate with Russia”. This scam was apparently cooked up by Jake Sullivan, the CIA and the neocons and sold to Biden.
As I mentioned before, I disagree about the plan being about Biden’s poll numbers. But Bernhard is probably correct that the plan was sold to Biden on that basis. Alastair Crooke’s reasons are more persuasive.
The Washington Post article is here:
Inside the White House preparations for a Russian invasion
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/02/14/white-house-prepares-russian-invasion/
Ah yes. Today was the day they were going to invade…according to that accurate bellwether, U.S. intelligence.
If the US insists upon NATO expansion, then there will be a Russian attack on Ukraine.
The story is about the causes of the confrontation, not the momentary moves of small individual military units. Those could be real, or smokescreen. The only way to know is to look at other things.
Russia has just flown White Swan bombers into Syria through US coalition airspace . US jets escorted the Russian bombers in. Syria is to real front line. Israel should take note. They have been told not to bomb Syria anymore.
It’s also possible that those bombers and jets are there to send a signal to the US Carrier Battle Groups in the Med. The missiles they carry can cover most of the Med from Syria. Some people also suggest it’s a signal to the US to get out of Syria. Russia is known to be upset about ISIS groups under US protection (in essence) near Al Tanf.
This was scheduled months ago but is probably enough for Biden to claim victory I can see CNN claiming Putin Blinked.
What is news here? It was stated over snd over that the troups would return scter exercises in Belarus?
Over and over and over.
Feels like looking for some victory.