OPINION:
The Russian state news agency TASS reported that at 5.00 a.m. Monday in Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a snap military drill in the Rostov region on the Ukrainian border, next to areas controlled by pro-Russian separatists. Rebels inside the Donbass region were also said to have held military drills in coordination with the Russian exercise.
About 8,500 troops as well as dozens of aircraft, 900 military hardware units, and 50 ships in the Black Sea and elsewhere were said to participate. The exercise included the redeployment of large numbers of troops from 3,000 km away as well as the establishment of emergency aircraft landing zones. The snap drill also included the Crimean Peninsula, recently annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014.
According to TASS, surprise combat readiness checks have started involving the forces of Russia’s southern military district and certain units of the Airborne Troops and military-transport aviation, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said on Monday. The checks, which began at 5.00 a.m. on Monday (0200GMT) upon the decision of the commander-in-chief, will assess the readiness of the southern military district to respond to different crisis situations, Shoigu said. “Since this time we have launched snap combat readiness checks of forces in the southwestern strategic direction,” the defense minister told a meeting. The goal is to “practice a whole range of tasks solved by the control bodies and forces, including the fight against terrorist threats and eliminating the consequences of natural and manmade disasters.”
The question Western political and military leaders need to be asking themselves is, why now and why next to the Ukrainian border? Obviously, Russian President Putin wants the West and Ukraine to fully understand that Russia could bring to bear an overwhelming military force in a moment’s notice against Ukraine if it decided to do so. These tactics most likely are meant to pressure Ukraine in the peace effort in the East; they are also meant to put fear in the hearts of President Obama and European politicians as well. If we don’t get what we want at the negotiating table, well… American bombing of North Vietnam during peace talks in the 1970s comes to mind as an example of this type of negotiation. If you remember, the North overran the South only a few short months after the peace was concluded.
Perhaps Putin is simply showing his displeasure at the European Union saying that the return of Crimea to Ukraine is necessary for economic sanctions to be lifted against Russia. Or perhaps he’s letting Ukraine know he has other options if Ukraine presses to force Russia to restructure the $3 billion Yanukovych debt that is now in default.
In either case, Putin is reminding the world he has a really big stick and he’s not afraid to use it.
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