Putin is teetering on the edge of an abyss of his own making. Is he going to take the plunge?

"Russia is holding combat readiness exercises involving 8,500 troops, with dozens of ships and aircraft, in a southern region near areas of eastern Ukraine held by pro-Russian rebels.

The snap drill in the Rostov region was ordered by President Vladimir Putin. (BBC News : 9 Feb. 2016) (my emphasis)

Russian troops which are stationed in Crimea as well as forces in the North Caucasus and southwestern regions near the border with Ukraine have been put on combat alert. (Alalam : Tuesday, February 9, 2016) (my emphasis)

Can it be any co-incidence that whilst Putin is preparing his troops for combat readiness on the border of eastern Ukraine,

"Western diplomats now fear peace efforts in Syira have been doomed by a Russian military push that has shored up Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's hold on power. The Kremlin-backed Syrian army advanced toward the Turkish border on Monday in a major offensive backed by Russia and Iran." (UT : Feb. 9, 2016) (my emphasis)

The critical link between what Putin is doing in Syria and putting his forces on combat readiness in Crimea and the eastern Ukrainian border is, as Judy Dempsey (left) states,

"Putin’s campaign in Syria is deepening the [EU] refugee crisis and making Angela Merkel’s position increasingly insecure. A weakened Merkel means a weakened European Union ... (EU News : 09 Feb 2016) (my emphasis)

As also reported by Paul Carrel,

"Berlin is growing increasingly suspicious that Russia is trying to stir up trouble in Germany to try to weaken Merkel, who has taken a tough line on a crisis that was triggered when Russia annexed Crimea in March 2014." (Reuters : Wed Feb 3, 2016) (my emphasis) 

And suddenly, the media is now awash with speculation that Putin is,

"...grooming an action man ‘military hero’ in his own image as his heir apparent, according to speculation in Moscow.

Deputy defence minister Alexei Dyumin (right), 43, was this week handed the job of governor of Tula region, as previously unknown details of his ‘courage’ were suddenly leaked to the media.

He was formerly a bodyguard and Putin’s trusted aide-de-camp while also playing goalkeeper in the Kremlin strongman’s own ice hockey club." (Will Stewart : Daily Mail : 6 February 2016) (my emphasis) (cf also: National Post : DNAIndia : War News Updates)

In my blog entry of 4/2/2016 I wrote that,

"Putin's current moves in Ukraine, Germany, and in Syria, are beginning to display a sense of desperation on his part.

To maintain his growing and precarious hold on power in Russia he is finally toying with the 'war' card to deflect the eyes of the Russian people away from their growing impoverishment by arousing within them a dangerous nationalism."

That his Deputy Defence Minister is now being viewed as his possible successor seems to mirror his own rise in popularity on the back of the Moscow apartment bombings in September of 1999, and his subsequent war against Chechnya that he started in October of 1999.

Just as Putin now seems to have 'thrown caution to the wind',  Robert Hackwill reports that,

"Once a village, Stanitsa Luhanska became an outlying city district of Luhansk and home to 15,000 before the war.
.....
It is one of the main crossing points between Ukraine and the self-styled Luhansk Peoples’ Republic for divided families, and those doing business.
“We want to know when this mess will be over, Ukraine is here and Ukraine is there, we want to know why they have been cut apart. Why do we have to go through this check point with Ukrainian passports? I am Ukrainian, my children are Ukrainians and they are not guilty of letting some terrorists grab power here. The Ukrainian army should go and free us from those terrorists!”(EuroNews : 9/2/2016) (my emphasis)

Adding to the desperation of the inhabitants of eastern Ukraine now having to suffer under the military rule of Putin's Russian soldiers and proxies in eastern Ukraine, some of Putin's Russian soldiers in eastern Ukraine are now being returned to their mothers in body-bags

"42 Russian servicemen have been killed on the frontlines in eastern Ukraine since the beginning of the year. That is according to the Chief Directorate of Intelligence of the Ukrainian Defence Ministry.

Ukrainian intelligence says the soldiers were a part of the 1st and 2nd army corps of the Russian forces stationed in the occupied Donbas territories." (UT : Feb. 9, 2016)
 
Putin is teetering on the edge of an abyss of his own making.

Is he going to take the plunge?

(to be continued)