Jakarta, CNN Indonesia —
After making Western countries shudder in tension over the rumors of an invasion, Russia openly declared withdrawing troops near the border Ukraine on Tuesday (15/2).
The troop withdrawal comes a day before Russia’s rumors of an invasion of Ukraine today.
In fact, Russia-Ukraine tensions have continued to heat up in the last two months. Russia is even said to continue to pile up troops and combat equipment on the border near Ukraine while carrying out various military exercises.
Shortly after the announcement of the troop withdrawal, President Vladimir Putin even declared that Russia did not want war with Ukraine. Instead of war, Putin wants to enter into negotiations.
Observers consider the deployment of troops carried out by Russia as a mere “gimic” so that in the end the situation can follow Moscow’s interests.
International Relations Observer from Padjadjaran University, Teuku Rezasyah, said that Russia had no intention of going to war from the start. Their actions so far in Ukraine, according to him only as a bluff.
“Yes, a Putin-style bluff. From the start Russia did not want to attack Ukraine,” said Rezasyah, CNNIndonesia.comWednesday (16/2).
Russia’s demands include Ukraine not joining NATO, asking the bloc to withdraw troops in Eastern European countries, and asking for a 2015 ceasefire in Ukraine to be implemented.
According to Rezasyah, Russia’s firmness over the past month in border areas has succeeded in ensuring that Ukraine will never become a member of NATO.
“(Russia) expects Ukraine to be neutral and not take sides with any military alliance,” he said.
Rezasyah admitted that the deployment of Russian troops along the border had made 30 NATO member countries distraught.
As such, NATO is acting cautiously, and will never again repeat certain ambitions and agendas to move closer to Russia’s “home page”.
Furthermore, Rezasyah explained, the title of Russian troops illustrates Moscow’s firmness as a leader over all countries of the former Soviet Union as well as testing the cohesiveness of NATO which is considered no longer coherent.
In addition, Russia is considered to have succeeded in achieving long-term goals in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America without losing its existence.
“All sovereign states that were part of the Soviet Union took Russia as a reference for their national development at the local, regional and global levels,” he said.
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