Russia’s Vladimir Putin has always been a hanging sword over the head of Europe and even the United States to a certain extent. Over the past few days, Ukraine officials have reported that the Russian President has moved thousands of troops near the country's border. Now with the recent Russian military exercises in the tension-filled region, the Ukrainian leaders have reached out to the United States government for help.
Reportedly, the last time Putin had an epiphany that the west was invading, a real war broke out with Ukraine after his troops descended on Belarus.
And now based on his history, the European Union leaders, no doubt, have good reasons to be in panic mode.
Is Putin getting ready to attack NATO?
The week-long West-Bilateral war game as it is called has sent alarms all over Eastern Europe, especially considering the recent tensions between Putin and NATO. Russia is in the middle of one of its largest military expansions in decades, and the Russia-NATO relations have been at its worst since the decades-old Cold War.
Belarus is a key territory in the region as it shares borders with three NATO members and the Ukraine. Since the story broke, Russian officials have tried to calm the situation citing that the exercise only involved around 12,700 troops.
However, Germany and Poland disagreed, estimating that around 100,000 troops participated in the exercises at Kaliningrad.
Putin's military kicks off Zapad-2017 in Belarus
Kaliningrad is one of Russia’s nuclear weapons storage sites, and the surrounding nations are rightly worried about such a large-scale military exercise. Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite expressed her concerns on Wednesday.
According to Grybauskaite, a large military mobilization has been seen in the region. This she said, is an aggressive move against the West. The President also iterated that Putin could use the military drills to keep high numbers of troops in the area escalating regional tensions.
However, Russia defense officials said they are only administering precautionary exercises.
According to the officials, the goal is to defend the Russian borders along Belarus against “terrorist” attacks. The Russian spokesperson also stated that the objective is to empower Belarus, which was used to attack them as far back as the Napoleon Bonaparte and Adolf Hitler eras.
The Belarus state media has reported that Russian troops and tanks have moved closer to its borders and are expected to enter the country within the next 24 hours. Belarus, Russia claims, gives easy access to would-be military powers wanting to invade Russia.
