Russia has announced it will launch a missile exercise amid mounting tensions with the United States and Western military alliance NATO over the Ukraine issue. President Vladimir Putin will visit the exercise in person.
Russia's Defense Ministry said in a statement that the exercise would begin on Saturday (February 19th).A statement issued by the ministry on Friday said, "The missile exercise will begin on February 19 in the presence of Vladimir Putin, the top commander in chief of the Russian armed forces. Both ballistic and cruise missiles will be used in the exercise.
Tensions between Russia and Ukraine have been running high since the former Soviet Union and Russia's neighbor Ukraine applied for membership in the Western military alliance NATO a few years ago. Tensions have risen sharply since NATO recently declared Ukraine a "partner state" despite its non-membership.
Russia has deployed more than 100,000 troops on the Russian-Ukrainian border over the past two months. Recently, however, the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that some troops had been withdrawn; However, the United States and NATO's European member states have already expressed doubts about the veracity of this statement.
Russia has deployed troops along the border to put pressure on Ukraine to withdraw its bid for NATO membership. Because NATO, formed in 1949, has always been considered by Russia as a tool for the domination of Western powers; And Russia has historically been opposed to Western hegemony.
Moscow, however, has said several times that Russia has no plans to invade Ukraine; It only wants to ensure its own security and sovereignty through NATO operations.
However, the United States and European members of NATO have no confidence in Moscow's statement. At a news conference at the White House on Thursday, the US president said, "We have enough reason to believe that they could have carried out a fake attack as part of an excuse to attack Ukraine." Every indication is that Russia will invade Ukraine and launch an attack. "
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