Putin’s retreat update: still not retreating
Kremlin Announces Ukraine Pullback, but NATO Doesn’t See It

The Kremlin announced Monday that President Vladimir V. Putin had ordered Russian troops conducting exercises along the Ukrainian border to return to their home bases at the conclusion of the drills, apparently sending another loud signal that Russia is not planning any military action in eastern Ukraine ahead of that country’s presidential elections on Sunday.

However, the NATO secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said the Western allies had not seen any sign of a withdrawal of Russian forces. During a news conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Mr. Rasmussen noted that it was the third such statement by Mr. Putin without any evidence of a pullback of troops or equipment from the Ukrainian border.