© TwitterDozens of heavily armoured vehicles were spotted convoying on bordering highways.
NATO has formally warned Russia against sending troops into Ukraine as Moscow's military builds up on the border worrying defence watchers.
An evolving crisis on the Russia-Ukraine border has Europe on high alert, with a defence watcher warning the situation could descend into a "world war" within weeks if tensions aren't stemmed.
Russian officials have been quick to downplay footage of tanks, artillery and as many as 4000 troops
mobilising on the disputed border, which has been under the microscope since 2014 when Russia invaded the Crimea region which is internationally recognised as being part of Ukraine.
President Vladimir Putin authorised military force which saw Moscow seize Crimea as well as parts of the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine.
All of these action were preceded by Russian troop build up on the border.
Worryingly, recent footage has emerged of the Russian military again setting up shop in the regions of Voronezh, Rostov and Krasnodar, on Ukraine's eastern border.
As the heat once again begins to rise between the two nations, a Russian military expert has pondered whether the world might is equipped to deal with a new assault on Ukraine.
Comment: In stark contrast RT provides this far more measured analysis of the situation
here:
As tensions escalate in eastern Ukraine, the real danger is not a Russian invasion, but that the Ukrainian government will misinterpret American signals of support as a green light for an assault on the rebel republics in Donbass.
Russia is about to invade Ukraine. So you'd think, if you believed recent headlines. "Tensions skyrocket as Russia masses forces near eastern Ukraine," says the Kyiv Post. "Russian troops and tanks mass on Ukraine border," declares the Sun. Russia is "flooding Crimea with trains full of tanks," claims the Daily Mail. And so on.
Since spring 2014, the Ukrainian army has been fighting rebel forces in Donbass in eastern Ukraine. The Ukrainian government has long accused Russia of supporting, arming, and bankrolling the rebels, but it is now saying that Moscow may go even further. According to the Kiev news agency, UNIAN, "Russia may try to go for an incursion and deploy its troops deeper into the territory of Ukraine ... Ukraine's military intelligence agency, GUR MO, has reported."
Indeed, UNIAN cites GUR MO as saying:
"The Russian Federation is completing preparations for a set of measures, aimed at pushing our country for a military response to the invaders' hostile action ... expanding Russia's military presence on the territory of the so-called 'DPR' and 'LPR' [Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics] by introducing regular units of the Russian armed forces, justifying the move by the need to protect Russian citizens."
Meanwhile the business journal OilPrice.com reports:
"In Belarus and Ukraine, the West is perceived to be waging a hybrid war against Moscow. From Putin's point of view, the only option now is to actively counter-attack. Military analysts are still arguing about what Moscow's options are in the coming days. The majority expect a so-called localized escalation, dramatic and devastating, leading to the deployment of Russian 'peacekeepers'."
The identity of this "majority" of experts is not revealed, possibly because it doesn't exist. But the basic scenario portrayed by the media is clear: Russia is preparing to attack Ukraine, using some sort of provocation to make it seem as if the attack is justified in order to defend the people of Donbass against the Ukrainian army.
The logic here is somewhat similar to that often used when discussing the 2008 war between Russia and Georgia. For it is often claimed that Russia "provoked" the Georgians into attacking South Ossetia, so as to launch a long-planned invasion of its own. The truth was rather different. An independent commission created by the European Union found Georgia to be primarily responsible for starting the 2008 war. Nevertheless, the Georgian example raises the spectre that the Ukrainian army, and its Western amplifiers, may be preparing the informational terrain to justify an attack on the rebel forces in Donbass by making it appear as if it is acting in self-defence to forestall an imminent Russian assault.
And here are
Russia's direct statements on the build-up:
The deployment of military hardware and thousands of troops to Western Russia is not the beginning of an invasion of Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin's spokesman has said, but instead just a normal part of defending the country.
Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov was asked by journalists on Monday to justify sizable army movements around the southern city of Rostov. One reporter asked whether the soldiers might get "lost like they did in 2014," when Ukraine claims Russian forces 'invaded' the Crimean peninsula.
"Nobody has wandered and nobody is wandering," Peskov replied. "The Russian army moves around Russia in whatever direction it considers necessary to ensure the security of our country."
However, the official said, these deployments should not cause "the slightest concern" for any neighboring nations, given "Russia does not pose a threat to any country in the world," including Ukraine.
The day before, Peskov had told a press conference that the movements were a response to "increased activity of the armed forces of NATO countries, other associations, individual countries."
"This all obliges us to be on the alert," he added. Putin's press secretary also claimed that, while Russia has never participated in the conflict raging in the Donbass, Moscow wants to avoid hostilities "reigniting."
And for more almost hysterical coverage of Russia's deployments (leaving out what NATO and US forces are doing of course) see
the following about the latest movements in the Arctic:
SATELLITE images have revealed Russia's huge military buildup in the Arctic - as Vladimir Putin tests a terrifying new "super torpedo" with the potential to cause "radioactive tsunamis".
The Kremlin is consolidating its grip on the polar region by building new military bases as tensions escalate with the West.
Weapon experts have raised the alarm over Moscow's new "super-weapon", the Poseidon 2M39 Torpedo, which is currently being tested in the polar region.
The stealth torpedo is powered by a nuclear reactor - and is capable of sneaking past coastal defences by moving along the sea bed.
It then detonates a warhead of multiple megatons which experts claim could cause "radioactive tsunamis" that could batter the polar coastline.
Last November, Christopher A Ford, then US assistant secretary of state for International Security and Non-Proliferation, said the Poseidon torpedo is designed to "inundate US coastal cities with radioactive tsunamis."
Satellite images provided to CNN by space technology company Maxar show underground storage facilities being built which experts fear could be used for the torpedo.
Military jets and bombers are also pictured as well as new radar systems close to Alaska.
A senior US State Department official told CNN: "There's clearly a military challenge from the Russians in the Arctic.
"That has implications for the United States and its allies, not least because it creates the capacity to project power up to the North Atlantic."
The Russian military build-up in the Arctic is different. Building airstrips, bases and missile test sites, it's clearly long-term and done with a view to the Northern Sea Route becoming a permanent fixture. Moscow is apparently banking on Arctic sea ice becoming permanently 'fluid'.
Comment: Bravo Bolivia! Rigging the game and leaving a trail of broken countries in its wake, IMF has won 'by default' too many times.