Russia said Tuesday it was pulling back some of its forces near the Ukrainian border to their bases, in what would be the first major step towards de-escalation in weeks of crisis with the West.

       
The move came amid an intense diplomatic effort to avert a feared Russian invasion of its pro-Western neighbor and after Moscow amassed more than 100,000 troops near Ukraine’s borders.

      

On Tuesday morning, the Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said some forces deployed near Ukraine had completed their exercises and were packing up to leave.

     

“Units of the southern and western military districts, having completed their tasks, have already begun loading onto rail and road transport and today they will begin moving to their military garrisons,” the ministry’s chief spokesman, Igor Konashenkov, said in a statement.

      

It was not immediately clear how many units were involved and what impact the withdrawals would have on the overall number of troops surrounding Ukraine, but it was the first announcement of a Russian drawdown in weeks.

     

Konashenkov said “large-scale” Russian military drills were continuing in many areas, including joint exercises in Belarus and naval exercises in the Black Sea and elsewhere.

    

If Western officials confirm that Moscow is taking steps to reduce its forces, it would help ease fears of a major war in Europe that have been rising for weeks.

      

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova suggested Tuesday’s news would show it was the West that had been raising tensions with its accusations of an invasion plan.

      

“February 15, 2022, will go down in history as the day Western war propaganda failed. Humiliated and destroyed without a single shot being fired,” she wrote on social media.

      

Comments from Putin’s foreign and defence ministers on Monday had already offered some hope of a de-escalation.

      

During a carefully choreographed meeting Monday with Putin, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said “there is always a chance” of reaching an agreement with the West over Ukraine.

       

He told Putin that exchanges with leaders in European capitals and Washington showed enough of an opening for progress on Russia’s goals to be worth pursuing.

      

Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu meanwhile told Putin that some Russian military drills launched in December were “ending” and more would end “in the near future.”

       

Ukraine said Tuesday that it appeared that Kyiv and the West had been able to deter an invasion.

      

“We and our allies have managed to prevent Russia from any further escalation,” Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told reporters on Tuesday, though he added a note of caution. 

       

“We have a rule: don’t believe what you hear, believe what you see. When we see a withdrawal, we will believe in a de-escalation,” he said.

       

Meanwhile there is growing opposition in the Russian military. Retired officers sent a letter to Vladimir Putin.

       
“We, Russia’s officers, demand that the President of the Russian Federation reject the criminal policy of provoking a war in which Russia would find itself alone against the united forces of the West.”
    

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