Posted on 03/07/2014 8:02:07 AM PST by Jim Robinson
Russia has reportedly begun large-scale air defense drills as tensions with the West continue escalating over the fate of Crimea.
Roughly 3,500 troops and more than 1,000 units of military hardware will be hosted for about a month in Kapustin Yar, some 280 miles east of the Ukrainian border. The exercise by Russia’s Western Military District, according to a report from RIA Novosti, will culminate with live-firing drills and deployment of air defense systems.
“It is for the first time that all air defense units from the district, including coastal defenses of the Northern Fleet, have gathered in one place,” district spokesman Col. Oleg Kochetkov said, adding that the drills were part of regular training cycles. “It is the largest-ever exercise held by air defense units of the Western Military District.”
Pentagon officials on Friday confirmed the report to Fox News based on the latest intelligence available to U.S. officials. The exercise comes as the speaker of Russia's upper house of parliament said Friday that Crimea — an autonomous Ukrainian region with a majority ethnic Russian population — would become an equal part of Russia if the region votes to leave Ukraine in an upcoming referendum.
Valentina Matvienko met with the head of the Crimean parliament to discuss the region's possible accession to Russia. The parliament of Crimea voted on Thursday to move the referendum date up to March 16 and to include a question on joining Russia.
President Vladimir Putin told reporters on Tuesday that Russia had no intention of annexing Crimea, while insisting that residents had the right to determine the region's status — and thus possible independence — by popular vote. The referendum, however, will give Crimea residents only two options: to join Russia or to stay with Ukraine.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
In other news today:
U.S. Fighters Circle Baltics as Putin Fans Fear of Russia
“President Vladimir Putin’s decision to hold snap military drills in the Baltic Sea last week just as he was pouring troops into Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula sent shock waves through Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which demanded, and got, military support from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.”
Oh, gosh, let’s move big stocks of gasoline closer to the smoldering fire.
Pathetic.
Putin has never forgotten the Kosovo fiasco. Recall that ClinTOONS favorite commander, Wesley Clark wanted to bomb some Russian held base in Serbia.
Ping.
Russia can’t say this was previously scheduled.
Yep, our involvement in the Balkans was the height of abject stupidity.......Tony Blair referred to it as the “First Progressives’ War.”
If you’re not prepared to go flat out to the mat with the neighborhood bully, you’d best steer clear of him. Bush’s approach was to seem so dangerous that the bullies of Russian and China acted nice. But Obama’s metrosexual beta male approach has emboldened them to the point the entire world is endangered.
Our beta male had best stay inside or he’ll get us all killed by his limp-wristed taunting.
Advance notice was give under treaties to NATO and the West. A country bent on aggressive war usually conceals troop movements from friends and foes alike.
This drill is coincidental with the crisis in Ukraine, which is of a political rather than a military nature.
That is why both the Kiev regime and its friends in the West are helpless to respond to the situation because it is not one using force will address. Its a legitimacy problem faced by the Ukrainian authorities.
Bullying Russia will not make it disappear.
I bet our ELINT boys are having fun. So much new stuff to record and analyze.
Yup. Peace through strength. Obama is busily destroying our strength and thereby inviting adversaries to make moves. Meanwhile, China is building up their military at alarming rates while North Korea and Iran both continue threatening to nuke their neighbors. Obama is a fricken idiot. The world does not take him serious.
Weasely Clark ordered British General Michael Jackson to engage and destroy the Russian peacekeepers guarding the Serbian civilian airport, not a military base.
Jackson told the Weasel to go F... himself.
Including stuff that will take the smiles off their faces.
What right does putin have to dictate in Ukraine how they can vote and then limit their choices? What if the Crimeans want to just be their own country?
This is like a repeat of the Maidan. While the Ukrainians wanted independence, they had to choose between EU or Russia.
Crimea is broke just as Ukraine is bankrupt.
They need a Sugar Daddy and Moscow is expected to bump up their economy to the standard of living in Russia.
I too would vote to join Moscow under the circumstances.
thank you for the ping Army Air Corps
“Including stuff that will take the smiles off their faces.”
Fah! -— when the Russian SA radars came up we all counted to 15 sec — the time it would take for the nuclear tipped missile to reach us. The ELINT guys at Bankhead did the same. And were pleased at being noticed - again.
Sending Serbs back in time a hundred years was just a warmup act for Ukraine.
Me thinks that the Us of A needs to be doing a few drills of it’s own, also, or at least pretend to.
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