Kremlin says West’s accusations about Russia's troop pullback from Ukraine ‘unfounded’

Russia has lambasted “unfounded accusations” by the US and NATO that it was not withdrawing troops from the Ukrainian border, saying it will take time to draw to a close the current military exercises.

According to reports, the Kremlin has announced a partial withdrawal of its forces, but the West claims that the presence of Russian military forces is growing, not diminishing.  

On Thursday, Moscow said the withdrawal of forces could not be carried out in a short time.

"It's clear the grouping for the (military) exercises was built up over many weeks, and it is of course impossible to withdraw it in a single day. They can't just take off and fly away... it takes time,” said Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.

He said Russia's Defense Ministry has a clear timetable for the return of units to their permanent bases.

On Thursday, ethnic Russians and Kiev traded accusations that each had fired across the ceasefire line.

Moscow declares fresh military withdrawal from Crimea

Separately on Thursday, Russia’s defense ministry said in a statement that a new drawdown of military forces was underway in Crimea.

“Units of the southern military district that ended tactical exercises at training grounds on the Crimean Peninsula are returning by rail to their permanent bases,” the ministry said.

Russia’s state-run television also showed columns of military hardware crossing a recently-constructed bridge connecting Crimea to the Russian mainland.

Crimea declared independence from Ukraine on March 17, 2014 and formally applied to become part of Russia following a referendum a day earlier. Moscow defends Crimea’s reunification with Russia as legitimate, saying more than 90 percent of the people in the Black Sea peninsula voted in favor of rejoining the country in the 2014 vote.

Russia, Belarus to end military drills as planned

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday said Russia and neighboring Belarus would end their joint military drills on February 20 as previously planned, addressing Western concerns that Russian troops might stay in Belarus for a longer time.

Peskov, for his part, said the matter of extending Russian troops’ stay in Belarus was not on the agenda.

Earlier, Peskov said NATO suffered from a “handicap” that prevented it from “soberly assessing the situation.”

SS