Earlier this week, Moscow announced that Russian military forces—having completed their recent exercises—have begun to return to their bases. Images released by the Russian Ministry of Defense even showed tanks loaded on trains, but according to Western officials, it is little more than smoke and mirrors.

U.S. Secretary of state Antony Blinken said during an appearance on ABC’s Good Morning America on Wednesday that the United States and NATO has no actual evidence that Russia has in fact pulled back troops from the border of Ukraine, despite Russian claims.

“Unfortunately, there’s a difference between what Russia says and what it does. And what we’re seeing is no meaningful pullback,” Blinken said candidly. “On the contrary, we continue to see forces, especially forces that would be in the vanguard of any renewed aggression against Ukraine, continuing to be at the border, to mass at the border.”

Blinken also reiterated that the United States maintains that Russia could invade neighboring Ukraine at any moment, including this week.

“We said that we were in a window of time in which the invasion could come at any time. President Putin’s put in place the capacity to act on very short notice. He could pull the trigger. He could pull it today,” Blinken warned. “He could pull it tomorrow. He could pull it next week. The forces are there if he wants to renew aggression against Ukraine.”

Withdrawal Not Invasion

On Thursday, the Kremlin explained that Russia’s withdrawal of forces near its borders with Ukraine could take place over an extended period.

“This is a process that will take some time,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

According to a report from TASS, the Kremlin would not consider complaints, including those from the United States, on how Russia deploys its armed forces on its own soil.

“First of all, we are not ready to and we won’t consider complaints with regards to how we move the armed forces on the territory of our country. This is our sovereign right and we don’t intend to discuss it with anyone,” Peskov added in response to a request to comment on information that Russia has continued to deploy troops to the border with Ukraine.

Peskov further reiterated that earlier, Russian defense minister Sergey Shoigu reported to Russian president Vladimir Putin that “certain phases of drills in regions adjacent to the border with Ukraine, in Crimea, are nearing completion.”

The press secretary also explained that as those phases of the exercise are being completed, the units will begin to return to their permanent military bases and that the process had already started.

“This is a prolonged process. It is clear that the contingent for the drills, for the exercise was formed over many weeks, and, of course, it is impossible to withdraw it in one day,” Peskov continued. “They cannot simply go up in the air and fly away all at once.”

The Kremlin also dismissed any suggestion that Russia has continued to build up its forces near the border with Ukraine, and that an invasion remains imminent.

“So, in this case, these are, as always, absolutely groundless accusations,” Peskov concluded.

Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer who has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers and websites. He regularly writes about military small arms, and is the author of several books on military headgear including A Gallery of Military Headdress, which is available on Amazon.com.

Image: Reuters.