Given the recent increase in tensions with Ukraine, the Russian government said on Tuesday that part of the troops stationed near the Ukrainian border will be withdrawn after finishing the maneuvers they were conducting in the area.

“The detachments of the South and West military districts that fulfilled their missions are preparing this Tuesday to return to their bases in trains and troop transfer vehicles,” Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said, according to the report.

The placement of Russian troops along Ukraine’s border has raised tensions in recent months, which the international community has interpreted as a probable prelude for a “invasion.” Russia has refuted these allegations and accused NATO of ramping up military action in the region.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov said on Monday that a deal with the US and NATO is feasible if “Russia’s proposals” on security “are heard,” but he urged further talks. Moscow rejected the US and NATO responses to its suggestions last week.

For his part, the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Sergeyevich Peskov, stressed during the day that “the movement of Russian troops is carried out within the state border” and added that “the magnitude of the movement of Ukrainian troops is carried out in the border area with the people’s republics in Donbas and can be compared to the size of the movement of troops in Russia”.

Image Credit: Getty

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