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Russian military exercises near Ukraine are raising concerns that Moscow may be putting troops in position to move across the border if such orders are issued, a senior U.S. official familiar with the most recent administration assessment told CNN Thursday. But the United States still believes that Russia doesn't plan to order its forces into its tumultuous neighbor, the official said. U.S. officials - who are monitoring the area 24 hours a day - have not yet seen signs that Russia is preparing to secure supply and transportation routes that would be crucial to any such movement, the official said.
Russian military activity levels observed by the United States also "appear to be within normal range," the official said. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov offered reassurances Thursday to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that the exercises were previously planned and were not being carried out because of the upheaval in Ukraine, echoing an earlier conversation between U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Russian Defense Ministry has said the combat readiness evaluation is being carried out in territory overseen by the western and central military commands. That puts some of the exercises near the Ukraine border. "All in all, about 150 thousand military personnel of different services of the armed forces and military commands are involved in the check," Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said in a statement released by the ministry. "Up to 90 planes, more than 120 helicopters, up to 880 tanks, over 1,200 defense equipment units and about 80 ships will be used."
U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told reporters Thursday in Brussels, Belgium, where he was meeting with NATO defense ministers, that the United States was following the developments in and around the Ukraine. "Until we really know more details -- what's really happening there, who is in charge, I think the focus should be ... let's keep the tensions down. Let's see no provocative actions by anyone, any military," he said. One concern is that with Russian troops out of their garrisons near Ukraine, they could be in a position to move swiftly across the border -- leaving little time for U.S. officials to try to mount diplomatic efforts to stop them, the official said.
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Unidentified armed men seized the airport in the Crimean capital of Simferopol, Russias Interfax reported in the early hours of Friday morning, signaling a deepening in the Ukraine crisis hours after Secretary of State John Kerry said Moscow had promised to respect its neighbors territorial integrity. Citing eyewitnesses, Interfax said at least three Russian-built KAMAZ trucks, bearing no license plates and ferrying about 50 men in military fatigues, had arrived at the airport and cordoned off its domestic flight terminal.
A day earlier, a similarly-described group of men had seized the parliament building in Simferopol, hoisting a Russian flag. Russian media are referring to the armed men as a pro-Russia militia. Troubled by the fall of its ally, former President Viktor Yanukovich, Russia says Ukraines new Western-leaning leaders are extremists and that ethnic Russians in eastern Ukraine face an uncertain future. The Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, home to an important Russian Navy base at Sevastopol, has a majority ethnic Russian population and a long Russian history, and some inhabitants have been demonstrating in demand of independence from Ukraine.
Unidentified armed man patrols a square in front of the airport in Simferopol, Ukraine, Friday, Feb. 28, 2014. Dozens of armed men in military uniforms without markings patroled the airport in the capital of Ukraine's strategic Crimea region on Friday as tensions in the country's Russian-speaking southeast escalated.
On Thursday the Crimean parliament, convening with the complex under the control of the gunmen, installed a pro-Russian official and voted to hold a referendum in May on greater autonomy from Kiev. Russia has been conducting military preparedness exercises in a region near its border with Ukraine and on Thursday the Russian defense ministry said fighter planes had been scrambled to patrol the border.
In Washington, Kerry told reporters that in a phone call to his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, he urged Russia to work with the U.S. and allies to support Ukraine, and discussed the very tense situation in Crimea. Kerry said Lavrov had told him that the military exercise underway is not related to the Ukraine and was previously scheduled. Lavrov had also reaffirmed President Vladimir Putins statement, made in a phone conversation with President Obama on Friday, that Russia will respect the territorial integrity of Ukraine.
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