Quote Originally Posted by Gilrandir View Post
I don't know what you mean by "partially in connection". The exercises had been planned and announced way back, and when the crisis hit they were proclaimed to be connected with it? Then they have nothing to do with escalation or de-escalation. They do if they were re-scheduled or the participants of them were increased in number, they were shifted to another locale (closer to the fighting zone) or they hadn't been planned before the conflict started or (most importantly) if the participants of them are universally credited to be one of the beligirents likely to take part in fighting any time soon after or during the exercises and the latter are a smoke screen to send soldiers to actual fighting. The last mentioned seems to be the case with Russia's troops. But Russia has had numerous exercises in the vicinity of Ukraine since 2014, and what is being discussed now is the ALERT STATE not the exercises. Alert states are not pre-planned.
Partially means that IIRC some were scheduled hastily when the Ukraine thing began, others were already scheduled before that.
And that they were scheduled before that already is part of the reason Russia felt threatened for a while already, so yes, they can contribute to escalation. Maybe you want to explain why it bothered the USA so much when Russia stationed nuclear missiles on Cuba when it was just a defensive measure in case the US would like, try to start an invasion of Cuba or something?

And Alert State can mean a lot, does it mean that their ammo is extra-lethal while they conduct the exercise or that they open their eyes a little wider?