It's not quite YouTube clips, but NATO has released satellite image-based proof that confirms the dramatic build up of Russian military forces along its borders. The images showing tanks, attack helicopters, and war planes, according to NATIO general Breedlove provide support for counter-moves by allies to safeguard their partners. Russia, for its part, has denied it has any plans to invade Ukraine and suggests that NATO is "using the crisis in Ukraine to rally its ranks in the face of an imaginary external threat to strengthen demand for the alliance ... in the 21st century."
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The images released by General Breedlove are reported to have been taken on 22 March, nearly a month after the unrest in Crimea began that led to Russia's annexation of the area. The photographs were taken by commercial satellite imaging company Digital Globe [4].
You can see the images below.
Above: Purported to be Russian military Su-27/30 "Flankers" aircraft at the Primorko-Akhtarsk Air Base in southern Russia, on the Sea of Azov which borders Ukraine. (Image: Digital Globe).
Above: purported to be Russian military tanks and infantry fighting vehicles at a military base near Kuzminka, east of the Sea of Azov in southern Russia (picture: Digital Glob)
Above: purported to be a Russian military airborne or Spetznaz (special forces) brigade at Yeysk, near the Sea of Azov in southern Russia (picture: Digital Globe).
Above: purported to be a Russian artillery battalion at a military base near Novocherkassk, east of the Sea of Azov in southern Russia (picture: Digital Globe).
Above: purported to be Russian Mil Mi-8 "Hips" and Mil Mi-24 "Hinds" aircraft in Belgorod, north of the Russian border with eastern Ukraine (picture: Digital Globe).
Speaking in Prague on Thursday, Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said:
"I have this message to Russia: you have a choice to stop blaming others for your own actions, to stop massing your troops, to stop escalating this crisis and start engaging in a genuine dialogue."
He added:
"If Russia is serious about a dialogue, the first step should be to pull back its troops."
Russia has denied that it has any plans to invade Ukraine.