Perhaps ending a global for the time being, Russia has started withdrawing troops it had deployed along the Ukraine border today. Yesterday Russian President Vladimir Putin had announced that Russia will be sending some troops to the bases after completing drills, and even though Ukraine and western nations were sceptical about this announcement, today Russian media reported that the troops from the Crimean Peninsula are returning to the mainland Russia.
According to a report by Russian state-owned media house RIA Novosti (ИА Новости) citing the Russian defence ministry, units of the Southern Military District are returning to the garrisons after military drills in Crimea.
“Southern Military District units have finalised their participation in tactical games at ranges on the Crimean Peninsula and are heading to their bases by train,” the defence ministry said. The ministry further added that the first train has already crossed the Crimean Bridge and entered mainland Russia.
The ministry informed that tracked armoured vehicles such as tanks, infantry combat vehicles and self-propelled artillery systems were loaded on flatbed cars of the special military train. “Military trains will bring the troops and hardware to their bases,” the ministry said in the statement.
Военная техника ЮВО пересекла Крымский мост, возвращаясь с ученийhttps://t.co/QJSjOUSSTB pic.twitter.com/jXDHGGBQ9p
— РИА Новости (@rianru) February 16, 2022
RIA Novosti also released video footage of the train crossing the iconic Crimean bridge, which connects the Crimean Peninsula with Russian mainland. As Ukraine separates Crimea from Russia, the bridge provides the only land connection between the peninsula and mainland Russia, which was completed after Russian annexed Crimea.
The footage shows the military train crossing the Crimean railway bridge carrying heavy military equipment like tanks and artillery guns loaded onto flatbed cars.
Yesterday Russian defence minister Igor Konashenkov had also announced that the military exercise that began on February 10 has ended, and the troops and the military equipment will return to the bases.
Although the Southern Military District units have started withdrawing from Crimea, the troops of the Eastern Military District and the Airborne Forces still remain in the peninsula. These forces will start returning to bases from February 20, at the end of the training operation.
Reportedly, nearly all Russian military districts, fleets and airborne forces took part in the large-scale manoeuvres in the peninsula, which is being concluded now. Moscow had been insisting the exercise was defensive in nature and do not threaten anyone, but the massive military build-up had raised concerns that Russia was invading Ukraine. USA had even warned that the invasion was very imminent, and had also ordered the withdrawal of its citizens from Ukraine.
