US-led military drills in Ukraine aimed at ‘intimidating’ Russia

The deployment of US and Western forces in Eastern Europe along with the military exercises in Ukraine are aimed at “intimidating” Russia and will “aggravate” the “delicate situation” in the region, says an American expert in foreign affairs.

Soldiers from 15 nations began two weeks of military drills in Western Ukraine on Tuesday, dubbed the Rapid Trident 2014.

Rapid Trident is an annual multinational exercise led by Ukraine and conducted by US Army Europe, a US Army command center in Germany responsible for the continuous oversight and control of ground operations throughout Europe and Russia.

Approximately 1,300 troops from 15 countries including Canada, Bulgaria, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Poland, Romania, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, the US and Ukraine are participating in this year’s exercises.

These military drills “clearly have the effect” of intimidating Russia, despite claims to the contrary by the participating nations, said James Jatras, a former US diplomat and Senate policy adviser.

The US has a “rotating force being deployed to the Baltic States and to Poland” in Eastern Europe, Jatras said. “The Russians of course are increasing their forces on their side of the border, so it is a very delicate situation and these exercises can only aggravate it.”

Jatras downplayed the significance of the drills in Ukraine, saying that the “Russian position is so much stronger than the forces that NATO can deploy in this region.”

The maneuvers come as tensions have escalated between Washington and Moscow over the accusation that Russia is supporting pro-Russian forces in Ukraine, an allegation denied by the Kremlin.

The US and its Western allies have repeatedly accused Moscow of destabilizing Ukraine by supplying arms to the pro-Russian forces fighting for control of the eastern provinces.

The US and EU have already imposed several rounds of harsh sanctions on Russian firms and individuals. Earlier this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the countries that have imposed sanctions against Moscow will be affected the most by the bans.