Vladimir Putin¡¯s lightning deployment of troops took less than a day to help turn the tide against anti-government protesters in Kazakhstan. Ahead of high-stakes security talks with the U.S., it also sent a reminder of just how determined the Russian president is to defend what he sees as his own neighborhood.
¡°If it made an impression, that¡¯s all for the better,¡± said Konstantin Kosachyov, deputy speaker of the upper house of Russia¡¯s parliament.
The dramatic operation ¡ª the first of its kind by the Russian-led military bloc Moscow sees as its version of NATO ¡ª came just days before the U.S. and its allies sit down with Kremlin negotiators to try to address Moscow¡¯s concerns about the Western alliance¡¯s expansion toward its borders and head off an invasion of Ukraine that the West fears the Kremlin is planning.
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