Russia could care less whether Ukraine signs meaningless accession agreements with Europe (as it just did) because at the end of the day, Ukraine needs Russia’s gas (if only for the next 4-6 years until Hunter Biden develops Ukraine’s shale deposits and the Qatar gas pipeline finally crosses Syria). Russia, however, is very angry when NATO gets ever closer to its borders, which it just did when earlier today, more than 1,000 troops from 15 NATO and non-NATO countries, including the US of course, are taking part in a military exercise in Ukraine.
The good news: The “Rapid Trident” exercise is happening near Lviv on the Polish-Ukrainian border, around 1,000 miles from the conflict in east Ukraine.
The bad news: 1,000 miles will hardly be considered enough by the Kremlin which will see this latest incursion by NATO ever closer to its border as another direct threat and a hint of what will happen if Ukraine is allowed to progress on its path of demanding entry into the military alliance.
From EuroNews:
Ukrainian army colonel, Oleksandr Syvak, said: “This year’s military exercise will concentrate on the particular aspects of the undeclared or “hybrid” war, which is happening in the east of Ukraine. This will be be taken into consideration during the military drill. The Ukrainian militaries will also share their experiences gained during the anti-terrorist operation”
Moscow has previously condemned what it calls NATO’s expansion in eastern Europe close to Russia’s borders.
In August, Ukraine’s prime minister said he would ask parliament to put the country on a path towards NATO membership.
At the weekend, the Ukrainian Defence Minister admitted NATO countries had begun arming his nation in the fight against the rebels – something NATO members had previously denied.
Euronews correspondent Mykhaylo Dubyak in Ukraine says: “In the Rapid Trident exercises, NATO and Ukrainian troops will train in how to react to an ambush and convoy operations, amongst other things. It will raise the combat capability of the Ukrainian army and may be used in operations in Donbas.”
Well, at least nobody is even hiding any more that NATO is both implicitly and explicitly involved in the Ukraine war, which has now surpassed simple proxy status and is in effect one between Russia and the West, quite directly.
And now we await as the Kremlin reveals yet another, massive “surprise” military drill just off the Ukraine border to make it quite clear how all this will end unless the warmongering puppetmasters operating behind the scenes are put in their place.
via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1qU7u5T Tyler Durden