Military Escalation On Both Sides Over Ukraine!

• Military Escalation On Both Sides Over Ukraine! 
  by http://larouchepac.com/, 11 March 2014
  NATO announced further military escalation against Russia yesterday, with the announcement that it would be deploying E-3 AWACS airborne surveillance aircraft to Poland to fly reconnaissance flights over both Poland and Romania. “These flights will enhance the alliance’s situational awareness and all will take place solely over alliance territory,” a NATO spokesman said. The NATO aircraft, which have a monitoring range of up to 400 kms., are based at Geilenkirchen, Germany, and will be joined by a British AWACS aircraft from RAF Waddington in England. According to Reuters, NATO commander Gen. Philip Breedlove recommended the move.
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  The NATO move comes as a dozen US F-16 fighter jets began air exercises with the Polish air force, and the USS Truxtun participates in exercises in the Black Sea with the Bulgarian and Romanian navies. The NATO air policing mission in the Baltic countries was also reinforced last week, with 6 F-15 fighters and a KC-135 air refueling aircraft, in addition to the 4 F-15’s that were already there. Aside from the Truxtun, the US Navy has considerable other force presence in the region. The aircraft carrier USS George HW Bush is on a port visit in Antalya, Turkey; there are four other destroyers, a cruiser and a frigate in or near the Mediterranean as well as an amphibious ready group consisting of three ships carrying 2,000 Marines.
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  Ukraine is also reported to be conducting military exercises to test the combat readiness of its troops, according to its defense ministry, reports Bloomberg News. Ukraine sent troops to training grounds after alleging that Russian soldiers seized a missile unit at Chornomorskoe in Crimea. Ukraine’s border service said Russian forces control 13 border bases and the ferry crossing across the Kerch Strait to Russia.
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  Russia has also been conducting a series of military exercises that began with large scale snap drills in the Western and Central Military Districts on Feb. 26, and were followed by air defense exercises. The Defense Ministry announced today that the airborne forces (which constituted a separate branch from the army) will be conducting assault exercises that, for the first time in two decades, include a large scale paratroop drop. “Some 4,000 paratroopers, 36 military transport and army aviation planes will be involved in the drill,” Defense Ministry spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Evgeni Meshkov told Itar-Tass. “One of the key objectives of the exercise is to show how effective tactical landing force can be in different latitudes and conditions.” RIA Novosti reports that the units involved come from bases to the east of Moscow, though where the exercise area is has not been reported.
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  Russian forces are also said to be tightening their grip on Crimea with the takeover of another four Ukrainian military bases by Crimean self-defense units, with little, if any, resistance from Ukrainian troops.

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