Russia announces withdrawal of troops from Ukraine border
The troops will return to their original barracks
This Tuesday, Moscow confirmed that they will withdraw the troops deployed on the border with Ukraine, at the same time that it reiterated that it was due to a "normal" military exercise and denounced that the misinformation was due to Western "hysteria" before an alleged invasion of the neighboring country.
The information was released by the spokesman for the Russian presidency, Dmitri Peskov, who assured that "we always said that after the maneuvers, the troops will return to their barracks of origin. And that is what is happening now. It is the process usual".
Peskov also announced that Russia plans to continue carrying out military maneuvers throughout its territory and emphasized that they have every right to do so whenever they wish.
At the same time, he assured that the accusations made by countries such as the United States have no basis in indicating that Russia intended to invade Ukraine and described it as an "absolutely unprecedented campaign aimed at provoking tensions."
On the other hand, the ministry's spokesman, Igor Konashenkov, indicated that "the units of the South and West military districts, which have already completed their tasks, have begun loading onto means of transport" and "will begin to return to their barracks today (Tuesday). )”, thus ratifying the information given by the presidency.
Meanwhile, the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, said that the withdrawal of the troops is done because it is something already scheduled.
"We do it regardless of what others think and regardless of the 'information terrorism' that is taking place," said the minister regarding the accusations of invasion of Ukraine.
Not to the war
In the same order of ideas, the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin asked himself “Do we want war? Of course not" and confirmed that the withdrawal of troops from the Ukraine border is due to something "normal" that was already planned and dismissed the accusations of Western countries.
These statements were offered during a press conference where he was accompanied by the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, who is in Russia in order to strengthen the diplomatic channel and thus avoid a possible war in Europe.
Ukrainian reaction
After the announcement made by Moscow, the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Dmitro Kuleba, said that they will not believe in the military withdrawal until they see it.
"There are different statements from the Russian Federation all the time. We have a rule: we don't believe it when we hear it, but when we see it" in addition, he added that "when we see the withdrawal (of the Russian soldiers) then we will believe in a de-escalation".