The extra Russian military forces at the border have been deployed in response to instability in Ukraine, the Kremlin has said. "We ... have forces in the region of the Ukrainian border. Some of these forces are based there permanently, others are there to reinforce, against the backdrop of what is happening in Ukraine itself," Dmitry Peskov, spokesman to Russian President Vladimir Putin told Rossiya 1 television.
Russia's War Against Ukraine
The Guardian: Russia defends bolstering army on Ukraine border
Russian-backed separatists guard an armored personnel carrier captured from the Ukrainian army in Donetsk Oblast's Sloviansk on April 16.
