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US uses planned war games with Poland to signal support after Russia’s intervention in Crimea

Ukranian troops are manning checkpoints near the Crimea border. However the country’s interim government has said it needs to establish a new National guard to supplement its understrength army. Kyiv has said it will not use force to intervene in the region, but is manoeuvering its limited troops in response to what it calls Russian agression. Meanwhile Germany’s foreign minister is in Lithuania on a tour of the Balkan states to reassure the former Soviet Republics who are looking on with alarm at political events in Ukraine. . Following Europe’s symbolic action over stopping visa talks with Moscow, further action could be taken if necessary. “If the process of separating the Crimea continues, if there is a result this weekend with the referendum which is being used to split the Crimea from the Ukrainian commonwealth and integrate with the Russian territory, naturally Europe will have to react.” In Poland joint war games with the US are scheduled. Although the exercises in the Black Sea were planned long before the Ukraine crisis, Poland’s President Bronislaw Komorowski took the opportunity to talk up his country’s military connections. “This is the place ( Lask Air base) where you can clearly see a lasting Polish-American alliance within NATO.” Analysts say the the military posturing is just that and that no one is looking for a confrontation with Russia.