Moscow described all the drills as legal under international law, and promised that Russian troops would leave Belarus after the exercises there conclude on Feb. 20. But Western officials worry that the exercises are a cover to position more Russian forces around Ukraine, giving Mr. Putin the ability to launch an invasion on short notice.
Why do they need to resort to drills as a cover for anything? Russia has been moving Russian forces to that area for the past two months without any pretense of drills. They just moved them there. If they need more forces, why not just move more? Why put on expensive drills to cover for something they could just do?
I think the drills are just an attempt at intimidation of the Ukrainian forces just across the border. That makes a lot more sense to me than the idea that it is some kind of pretense to cover a military buildup that it was already doing without pretense.
