Putin rattles the saber:

Russia deploys combat aircraft to Belarus

Russia has deployed a number of fighter and airborne early warning (AEW) platforms near to Ukraine in response to US and NATO aircraft movements in Eastern Europe, state media reported.

The Russian Air Force (Voyenno-Vozdushnye Sily - VVS) sent six Sukhoi Su-27 ‘Flanker’ fighters and three unidentified transport aircraft to Belarus on 13 March, RIA Novosti reported. This was followed two days later by the deployment of a Beriev A-50 ‘Mainstay’ AEW platform to Baranovichi Air Base in Belarus.

The move is being seen as a direct response to the US Air Force’s (USAF’s) deployment of six additional Boeing F-15C Eagle fighters to the NATO Baltic Air Policing mission in Lithuania and 12 Lockheed Martin F-16s to Poland the week prior, and to the NATO and UK Royal Air Force (RAF) sending Boeing E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning And Control System (AWACS) aircraft to patrol the Ukrainian border.

Separately, the Russian Navy has begun air defence exercises from the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier, which is currently sailing in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. While the Sukhoi Su-33 ‘Flanker-D’ air defence fighters and Kamov Ka-27 ‘Helix’ anti-submarine helicopters are too far away to directly intervene in the Ukrainian crisis, their exercising is no doubt designed to send a clear message of Russian intent and resolve to face down any Western response to Russia’s invasion of Crimea.

This is just for show on Russia’s part. 6 on 6, our F-15Cs would blow their Su-27Ds out of the sky. We might lose one plane, but they’d lose all of theirs.