Russia War Games Underway Uncomfortably Close To Ukraine Border [Video]

Russian war games that are being held along the Ukraine border are adding to the anxiousness and unrest felt by Ukrainians over the course of the last few weeks, according to the Associated Press.

The war games — which will continue until the end of the month — are being held in four regions bordering Ukraine. Certainly the timing and the location of the war games has not been lost on outside observers.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, however, is defiant. Putin said Thursday that the world shouldn’t blame Russia for what he referred to as Ukraine’s “internal crisis.”

The military maneuvers that are part of the Russian war games are fairly extensive. In the Rostov region alone, the war games included more than 1,500 troops parachuting into the region. Likewise, large artillery exercises that involved more than 8,500 soldiers were underway.

One of the intriguing facts about the timing of the Russian war games is that the United States is underway with its own war games in Poland right now.

During the crisis in Ukraine, the United States has sent fighter jets to Poland and Lithuania — both allies. Not to be outdone, Russia sent six fighter jets to Belarus on Thursday.

Though there is some concern about the war games, the bigger concern for the United States and for the European Union is Russia’s continued occupation of the Crimea region of Ukraine.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel was outspoken in her rebuke of Russia’s maneuvering inside of Ukraine.

“If Russia continues on its course of the past weeks, that will not only be a great catastrophe for Ukraine, it will cause massive damage to Russia, both economically and politically.”

Merkel — presumably speaking with some authority in behalf of the European Union — mentioned economic sanctions that could be on their way to Russia. She said that travel restrictions could be enacted and Russians’ bank accounts would be frozen.

In the mean time, the war games and the posturing are still scheduled to continue until the end of March.

Ukraine has amped up its own military presence as well. Ukraine’s parliament voted Thursday to create a National Guard of 60,000 citizens that would come in to help support its under-staffed military, in a move, perhaps, that was quickened by the neighboring war games.

Although Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk continues to condemn Russia’s occupation in his country, he said he doesn’t believe that Putin wants to create a military conflict.