MOSCOW, May 20 (RIA Novosti) – Russia has started a pullback of its troops from temporary bases near the Ukrainian border, Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said Tuesday.
“It seems to me that maybe a few days will be enough and if you ask me when you start this process I would like to confirm openly that it has been started already, immediately after this order of my president,” the official told the BBC's Daniel Sandford, adding that the troops remained on Russian territory and were not involved in any suspicious activities.
On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the return of all troops involved in drills in the Rostov, Belgorod, and Bryansk regions on the border with Ukraine to their permanent bases to continue their military training.
The US, however, said that it had seen no evidence proving the troops were leaving their temporary bases near the border with Ukraine.
Antonov also stressed that “there is not any problem between NATO countries, Baltic states or eastern European countries and Russia regarding security … We would like to invade Poland and the Baltic countries, but with tourists, not with our tanks and armored vehicles.”
In response to the developing situation in Ukraine’s southeast, where a special operation targeted the country’s own citizens in late April, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced the beginning of military drills of units from the Southern and Western military districts near the borders with Ukraine.
NATO earlier accused Russia of deploying approximately 35,000-40,000 troops in the vicinity of the Ukrainian border in preparation for a military intervention in Ukraine, despite Russia’s continued claims that the military exercises were non-threatening.
