Russian strategy isn't occupation. Their plan is to cause damage and force negations with Ukraine to agree to never join NATO. 200k soldiers is more then enough.
Yeah sure...
Russia initially denied that its soldiers seized government buildings and other strategic facilities in Crimea ahead of its March 2014 annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula five years ago this week -- despite obvious signs of its involvement. It took a year for Moscow to come clean.
www.rferl.org
From 'Not Us' To 'Why Hide It?': How Russia Denied Its Crimea Invasion, Then Admitted It
In the darkness of the morning on February 27, 2014, heavily armed men wearing green uniforms with no identifying insignia stormed the regional parliament in Simferopol, the capital of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, and raised the Russian flag atop the building.
The seizure came a day after pro- and anti-Russian protesters
had clashed outside the building over the future of the peninsula following the ouster of Kremlin-friendly Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who had fled Kyiv days earlier. And it was just the beginning.
As masked commandos in similar garb fanned out across the peninsula over the next two weeks, surrounding Ukrainian military bases and taking control of other strategic facilities, it was clear to many on the ground that they were Russian military.
One of the soldiers said as much on camera.
But despite clear indications that Moscow had dispatched these forces -- or "little green men," as they came to be widely known -- Russia embarked on a campaign of denials and obfuscations about their provenance and role in helping cement Moscow's annexation of Crimea in March 2014.
Russia described them as "self-defense units" created by locals concerned about alleged threats against Crimea's Russian-speaking population from Ukrainian ultranationalists.
Nothing To See Here
A day after the seizure of the Crimean parliament and the regional government headquarters, masked Russian soldiers took control of the Simferopol airport.
One woman in the crowd appeared certain about their nationality, yelling "Russia, Russia!" as a group of commandos loaded their weapons and equipment into a military truck.
But the same day, Russia's ambassador to the European Union told Euronews that the troops at the airport were not Russian. "There are no troops whatsoever, no Russian troops at least,"
Vladimir Chizhov said.
Days later, during his first public comments on the events in Crimea, Russian President Vladimir Putin was asked directly whether Russian troops were blockading Ukrainian soldiers inside their bases on the peninsula.
Despite the
clear evidence of
Russian soldiers' role in
these blockades over the previous days,
Putin replied: "Those were local self-defense units."
The Bloomberg reporter who asked the question noted that the armed men wore "uniforms strongly resembling Russian Army uniforms."
Putin responded: "Take a look at the post-Soviet states. There are many uniforms there that are similar. You can go to a store and buy any kind of uniform."
In nearly eight hours of talks with U.S. officials, Russia says it's not planning to attack Ukraine, despite having an estimated 100,000 troops near the border. More talks are expected.
www.npr.org
In high-stakes meeting, Russia tells U.S. it isn't planning to invade Ukraine
Top U.S. and Russian diplomats said they had constructive talks Monday in Geneva, but they did not achieve a breakthrough in their attempt to defuse tensions regarding the Russian troop buildup on the Ukraine-Russia border.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov emerged from the nearly eight hours of talks and declared, "There are no plans or intentions to attack Ukraine." He went on to say, "There is no reason to fear some kind of escalatory scenario."
