Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday will overlook military drills involving Russian “strategic forces”, including ballistic and cruise missile launches, the defence ministry said.
The information about the drills comes as Russia made an announcement of the evacuation of troops from around Ukraine, a force that had generated concerns in West-specifically Washington- that Moscow was planning an imminent attack.
On Friday, the defence ministry has released a statement that, “Putin will preside over a planned exercise of strategic deterrence forces, during which ballistic & cruise missiles will be launched.”
It added that, “The air force, units of the southern military district, as well as the northern and Black Sea fleets, would be involved.’
The Kremlin, in the statement, said that the launch of ballistic missiles was a “fairly regular training process.”
While dismissing any questions on the drills, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that, “All the details have been made publically in advance.”
Tensions between the West and Russia over Ukraine and European security have been made worse by large-scale military exercises near Kyiv’s borders and also in Belarus.
Although, Russia has made an announcement that some of its troops have been evacuated and returned to permanent bases, the West says it has seen no meaningful withdrawal.
Ukraine and rebels in the east of the nation who have Moscow’s backing have been trading accusations over an uptick in shelling between separatist and government-controlled territory.