According to satellite pictures and military intelligence, some 50,000 Russian troops are massed along the border with Ukraine. The forces represent a substantial fraction of Russia’s 270,000-strong army, and they cannot indefinitely maintain the high state of readiness they have been in since early March, not least because it is now the time of year when conscripts at the end of their term have to be sent home, and new ones trained.
Economist: Russia would find holding territory in Ukraine harder than taking it
Russian soldiers prepare to fire their Msta-S self-propelled howitzer during military exercises in the southern Russia's Volgograd region, on April 2, 2014.
