"On the contrary, it seems that Russia continues to increase its military power.

We see that they have increased the number of troops and even more troops are on the road, "the DPA quoted the NATO leader as saying.

Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry said that units of the tank army of the Western Military District (WMD) are returning to permanent positions after the exercise.

Armored vehicles were loaded on railway trains, which need to travel to the bases of about 1 thousand km, according to the Defense Ministry.

"Soldiers of the tank army of the Western Military District completed the loading of tanks and armored tracked vehicles on railway platforms and began to march in a combined manner to the points of permanent deployment at a distance of about 1 thousand kilometers.

The region where the exercises took place is not indicated in the message.

The day before, Russian Defense Minister

Sergei Shoigu

reported to President

Vladimir Putin

that part of the ongoing military exercises will be completed soon.

In particular, the joint exercises of Russia and Belarus "Union Determination - 2022" are held on February 10-20.

Dmitry Peskov

, a spokesman for the Russian president

, said earlier that Russian troops would leave Belarus after a joint exercise.

He did not name a specific date for the return of troops to the place of deployment.

On February 16, Belarusian Foreign Minister

Vladimir Makei

said that after the exercise, "no" servicemen and units of Russian military equipment "will remain" in Belarus.

In early February 2022, Russia transferred several thousand of its troops to Belarus as part of a joint exercise.

The exact number of servicemen who arrived from Russia has not been officially named.

In addition to Belarus, since the end of 2021 Russia has been accumulating military equipment in other regions close to Ukraine's borders: in Rostov, Bryansk, Voronezh regions, as well as in the annexed Crimea.

In total, according to observers, about 120,000 troops were transferred to Ukraine's borders, including from Siberia and the Far East.

Western countries fear that Russia could attack Ukraine in the coming days.

The Kremlin has repeatedly denied any plans to attack Ukraine.

Photo gallery: Russian troops near the borders of Ukraine, in the Crimea and in Belarus.

PHOTO GALLERY

Satellite images were taken on 13 and 14 February.

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