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Russian troops launch mass drills close to Ukraine
by Staff Writers
Moscow (AFP) March 12, 2015


Germany warns of 'dangerous' consequences to arming Ukraine
Washington (AFP) March 12, 2015 - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Thursday argued against arming Ukraine during a trip to Washington where support is growing for delivering weapons to help Kiev battle pro-Russian separatists.

"I understand that many of you are calling for a more rapid, therefore determined, therefore military-based solution," Steinmeier said at an event organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think-tank.

But providing Kiev with lethal military aid could "catapult the conflict into a next phase" and trigger a "dangerous permanent escalation" between Ukraine and Russia, he warned.

"This can be in nobody's interest."

His visit comes as US President Barack Obama is under pressure not just from hawks in Congress but also from within his own administration to supply the outmatched Ukrainian army with weapons to shore up its faltering defenses.

Obama's new defense secretary Ashton Carter told the Senate in his confirmation hearing last month that he was "very much inclined" towards providing weapons to Kiev.

The US military's top-ranking officer, General Martin Dempsey, said last week that "we should absolutely consider lethal aid and it ought to be in the context of NATO allies."

Germany and many European nations believe Western arms would not offset the military advantage enjoyed by pro-Russian forces allegedly backed by Moscow, and instead would simply fuel a conflict that has claimed an estimated 6,000 lives.

The White House on Wednesday also played down the idea of sending lethal military assistance, stressing that this would "lead to greater bloodshed."

Russia launched major military exercises Thursday, with thousands of troops taking part in war games across the country, including in the annexed Crimean peninsula and southern regions near Ukraine.

More than 8,000 ground troops began drills set to last until early April in regions including southern Russia, Crimea, Armenia and the breakaway Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, defence ministry officials said.

The exercises are among the largest in recent times, the RIA Novosti news agency reported.

Russia's Black Sea fleet based in Crimea also began separate drills, using military planes to simulate an attack on its missile-carrying ships.

The navy also held exercises in the far eastern Sea of Japan and the far northern Barents Sea.

Around 200 Russian troops in central Russia underwent training to simulate urban warfare, using tanks and armed personnel carriers to "storm a city," defence officials said.

In February, Russia launched massive drills involving several thousand soldiers close to its borders with Baltic states already jittery over their former Soviet master's actions in Ukraine.

The United States then launched a three-month military exercise in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, deploying some 3,000 frontline troops to take part in drills in what officials said was meant to "demonstrate resolve to President (Vladimir) Putin and Russia that collectively we can come together."

Putin last year ordered a series of snap drills in regions bordering Ukraine, and Moscow massed up to 40,000 troops along Ukraine's eastern border, according to NATO.

He has since been accused by the West of backing and arming separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine in a conflict that has left some 6,000 dead. The Kremlin denies this.

NATO is countering Russia by boosting its defenses on Europe's eastern flank with a spearhead force of 5,000 troops and command centres in the Baltic states, Bulgaria, Poland and Romania.


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Russia quits arms treaty consulting group amid tensions with West
Moscow (AFP) March 10, 2015
Russia said Tuesday it was suspending its participation in a consulting group on a conventional arms treaty for Europe, the latest sign of deep tensions with the West. Russia had already suspended its participation in the Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) in 2007. It had however continued to take part in the consulting group related to the treaty, which was signed in 1990. Mo ... read more


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