On Tuesday, the Russian media and TASS news agencies quoted the Russian Defense Ministry as saying that the exercises will include several Russian fleets and will take place in the eastern Mediterranean.
And “Interfax” indicated that Russia has deployed fighters armed with supersonic Kinzal missiles at a Syrian air base for training, according to “Reuters”.
Earlier on Tuesday, Moscow announced plans to hold similar exercises in the Barents Sea in northeastern Norway and the European part of Russia.
The Russian announcement of the exercises in the Mediterranean came after the Defense Ministry confirmed on Tuesday that some forces in the military regions bordering Ukraine had begun to return to their bases after completing exercises, in a move that would ease the dispute between Moscow and the West.
A ministry spokesman said in a video clip posted on the Internet that large-scale exercises were continuing across the country, but some units in the southern and western military regions had completed their exercises and started returning to their bases.
Video footage released by the Ministry of Defense showed the loading of some tanks and other armored vehicles onto railway cars.
The Interfax news agency quoted Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba as saying that Kiev “will not believe in de-escalation until it sees the withdrawal of Russian forces.”
The report quoted Kuleba as saying, “We constantly hear different statements from the Russian Federation, so we have a rule. We only believe what we see. If we see the withdrawal, we will believe in de-escalation.”
Russia has massed more than 100,000 of its forces near the Ukrainian border, raising fears of an invasion of Ukraine, especially since the joint exercises Moscow is conducting with Belarus between February 10 and 20 mean that the Russian army is almost encircling Ukraine.