Russia announced a new drawdown of military forces from the Moscow-annexed Crimean peninsula Thursday, continuing a troop withdrawal that was met with scepticism from Ukraine's Western allies."Units of the southern military district that ended tactical exercises at training grounds on the Crimean peninsula are returning by rail to their permanent bases," the defence ministry said in a statement.
On Tuesday, Russia's Defense Ministry announced that some units participating in military exercises would begin returning to their bases. This came after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz met Russian premier Vladimir Putin, where he reportedly demanded “clear steps to de-escalate the current tensions" from Russia.Russia wants the West to keep Ukraine and other former Soviet nations out of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato), halt weapons deployments near its borders and roll back forces from eastern Europe. The failure of diplomatic talks led Russia to station its troops near Ukraine, prompting the US and its allies to think a possible Russian invasion in Ukraine. However, Russia has denied having any invasion plans and called it the West's "hysteria" and "madness".