Russia Says Some Forces Pulling Back Amid Ukraine Crisis

By DASHA LITVINOVA and YURAS KARMANAU, Associated Press

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia says that some units participating in military exercises will begin returning to their bases.

That adds to glimmers of hope that the Kremlin may not be planning to invade Ukraine imminently. But officials gave no details on the pullback.

The announcement Tuesday came after Russia's foreign minister indicated the country was ready to keep talking about the security grievances that led to the Ukraine crisis.   That changed the tenor after weeks of rising tensions.

Still, Western officials continued to warn that an invasion could come at any moment and said some forces and military hardware were moving toward the border. It wasn't immediately clear where exactly the troops that the Russian Defense Ministry said were pulling back were deployed or how many were leaving.