Now the WH (aka Obama), OTOH...
But I wonder if not far from the Ukrainian border means “pulled back” from the Ukrainian border in Putin's terms. As with Obama, words like “pulled back” mean pulled back, since they are now moving “not far.”
Why? I believe Putin has enrolled in the Obama “New Speak” Academy, where terrorism is now a “man-caused disaster.”
Oops, scratch “what” in the first line.
If King Barry and the Kiev Coup Kiddies wet their diapers over Russian troops in Russia doing something, tough turkey.
The Kiev "government" is spewing nothing but a constant stream of propaganda with the goal of delaying the elections they avoided by taking over with a mob or for having an excuse to not recognize the votes from some regions.
The people in Kiev had no qualms about unleashing the Ukrainian Army on Ukrainian citizens who are doing roughly the same thing the crowd now in power in Kiev did in order to take power. What's good for the goose is good for the gander, the only difference is the guy they overthrew didn't use the Army against the people now in power.
So far the "government" in Kiev sounds and acts a lot more like the old Soviet Union than Russia has been. A country on their border moves their own troops in their own county and they yell, "provocation". A citizen of their own country resists the little tin gods in Kiev and they yell, "foreign infiltrators and subversive elements".
Putin took the Crimea, what an asshole, he shouldn't have done that and it's a shame the same brave people in Kiev who are using the Ukrainian Army against their fellow Ukrainians didn't use that same Army against the Russians taking over Crimea. But they didn't because the Crimea consistently votes against the same sorts that are running the country so the Kiev Kiddies figure, "good riddance". Just like Eastern Ukraine, the people in Kiev are desperately hoping Putin is stupid enough to take over East Ukraine. Otherwise they know they're never going to win free elections in the country.
Face facts, far more than half the population of the Ukraine doesn't want the people in Kiev in power and the people in Kiev know it, that's why they used a mob to take power instead of waiting on elections in the first place. They figured Putin was dumb enough to do them the favor of taking all of Eastern Ukraine instead of just Crimea which is vital to Russia. They figured wrong, Putin isn't dumb enough to help them out. Now, they're like a whole hen-house full of chickens with their heads cut off and the Army units they sent East are going to be a problem for the in short order.
The Germans are figuring this all out as good information starts to replace what they accepted as fact from the Kiev Kiddies. They'll probably recommend elections with plenty of oversight so they're trustworthy and then you'll see the Kiev Kiddies really get in a panic. They don't want free elections, they want to be rid of Eastern Ukraine, and they want "ethnic Russians" out of the cities in Western Ukraine where they're over 20% of the population. They can't admit that's what they want because the EU would then understand that yes, they're far more inclined to go along with neo-Nazis than they claim. Since they've had a dozen opportunities to defuse this mess and haven't there's no other goals they could have that make sense.
Of course, maybe the Kiev Kiddies are just stupid and blundered into office because someone much smarter than them knew how to run a mob rule takeover. If that's the case, the infighting, replacing of people willy nilly, and finger pointing within the Kiev Kiddes regime will start any day.